Doctors Fight 50 Hours To Save The Lives Of Twins Conjoined At The Head
In an incredible surgical intervention, two 19-month-old girls, Safa and Marwa were in the operating theater, surrounded by at least 20 doctors.
They were trying their best to separate the girls, but the procedure would be long and extremely dangerous. Exposing the brains and separating them is not the only challenge, and the doctors have to find a quick solution to save the twins’ lives.
Safa and Marwa are two little girls that have never been able to look each other in the eyes. Most babies that are craniopagus (joined at the head) do not survive longer than a day, but the sisters are definitely fighters, withstanding not one but three interventions!
25. Craniopagus Twins: One Case in 2.5 Million Births
Safa and Marwa are very special, being born as craniopagus twins. Their case is one in 2.5 million births, and they not only share the same skull, but also the arteries and veins.
To separate the girls, a huge team of doctors prepared weeks before the intervention. The team didn’t just have doctors and nurses, but also experts in 3D modeling, bio-engineering, and even virtual reality!
24. The Twins’ Condition Worsens
On the operation table, everyone goes silent as the anesthetists find that one of the twins was having problems pumping blood from her brain, causing the other sister to get excess blood.
This put a lot of stress on her head and it was a race against time…
23. We Need to Shock
The team decides to use the pads and shock, getting ready for the worst. In just a few seconds, their patients could lose their lives. Was this a crisis they could deal with?
Outside the operating theater, Zainab Bibi, the twins’ mother is praying for her daughters. Even though Zainab has seven older children, Safa and Marwa were special, she said.
22. The Twins Were Born Through C-section
Zainab gave birth through cesarean and couldn’t see her babies until the fifth day as she was still recovering.
The family had previously had a misfortune: the daughter’s dad died of heart attack, and the first one to see the babies was the grandfather who had mixed feelings when he saw them.
In an interview with BBC, he said: “I was happy to see them, but I was thinking what am I going to do with them because of their joined heads?”