The Siamesetwins...good News.

[marshbags]

A good news story for once.

B.Post Breaking News 15:28

Quote:-

Twins separated in historic operation

(TNA) - Surgeons at Thailand's Siriraj Hospital have successfully performed an operation separating cojoined ("Siamese twin") girls. It is the world's first successful operation to separate twins with joint hearts and livers, and both infants have survived the operation.

Professor Dr Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, dean of the Siriraj Hospital Faculty of Medicine, presided at a press conference announcing the ground-breaking operation on Panward and her sister Pantawan.

Born June 17 last year, the twins were joined at the chest and abdomen. Their hearts and livers were also joined. It is a very rare case with odds of one in 50,000.

The Siriraj team of doctors conducted the separation operation on them on February 20, when they turned eight months.

Unquote.

Please go to the following url for the complete article.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=117892

Hapy news is always the best.

May they continue to improve and go on to live as normal a life as is medically possible.

Well done all the surgical team for your successful efforts and providing the parents with a joyful conclusion of what must have been a a nightmare of a situation

marshbags

Edited April 5, 2007 by marshbags

[aussiestyle1983]

Well done!

A medical break through, if they continue to survive..............

Edited April 5, 2007 by aussiestyle1983

[marshbags]

The following article gives more detailed version and is courtesy of:-

The Nation Fri, April 6, 2007 : Last updated 0:10 am (Thai local time)

Quote:-

A double miracle

Siriraj Hospital has separated two eight-month-old baby girls joined at the torso in an operation believed to be a first on infants whose hearts and livers were connected.

Six weeks after undergoing the operation on February 20, twin sisters Panwad and Pantawan Tiyenjai are now healthy, said Clinical Professor Somchai Sriyoschati, the cardiovascular surgeon who led the heart surgery team.

The operation took more than 12 hours and required a total of 61 medical personnel including 14 anaesthetists, five cardiovascular surgeons, seven plastic surgeons and paediatric surgeons, and 30 nurses.

Because of their physical state from birth, Somchai said they would continue to have minor development problems, such as in eating, but these would be corrected in due course.

The only significant health problem for the two was that Panwad had a slight leak in her upper heart valve. This would be fixed later when she had grown a bit more, Somchai said.

Asst Prof Mongkol Laohapensang, who led the liver surgery team, said the livers of the two infants were in good shape and would grow to a normal state soon.

Before the operation, the doctors were uncertain whether the connected hearts of the twins could be separated safely because the upper right chamber of Pantawan's heart was joined to the upper left chamber of Panwad's, Mongkol said.

Blood also was flowing from Pantawan's heart to Panwad's through the connected channel, he said.

Because there was very little space between the hearts, it was difficult to assess whether the operation could be carried out. But after several examinations, doctors found separation was possible and that the twins could lead individual lives, Somchai said.

Among the medical techniques employed to ensure the two connected hearts could be separated safely were a heart balloon and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Mongkol said.

"I have to say that I was very nervous about not missing [the target] by a single millimetre while operating," said Somchai, referring to the most difficult part of separating the centimetre-long tube where the twins' hearts were connected.

"We did research on the Internet on published English literature going back more than 30 years but didn't see any reports of a successful operation of conjoined twins with these complicated conditions," said Prof Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, dean of Siriraj Hospital's Faculty of Medicine.

"And if there are no other successful cases reported in other languages, then this operation should be the first in the world," he said. "As far as I am concerned, the only previous success was a separation of connected twin hearts with no shared nerves, and it left only one alive."

"We feel dearly grateful to the doctors for this success," said Usa Tiyenjai, the twins' mother, who is from Samut Sakhon.

"It's been the longest moment of anxiety in my life. I was so glad and thankful to the doctors," said Thavorn Tiyenjai, the father.

The cost of the operation and care of the twins from birth to the day they were separated was estimated to be about Bt1.5 million.

Arthit Khwankhom

The Nation

Unquote.

This should raise a on everyones face

marshbags

[leisurely]

Brilliant. Some positive news for a change. I understand that this wasn't reported until the Doctor in charge could be sure they would survive.

Very best wishes to both girls and the family.