Two Siamese twins connected by the skull and blood vessels were operated on several times and successfully separated, said Tuesday the Roman pediatric hospital Bambino Gesù who performed the interventions.
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" It is the first case in Italy, and probably the only one in the world, of successful intervention on a couple of" posterior total craniopagia ", one of the rarest and most complex forms of cranial and cerebral fusion " , the hospital said in a statement.
Preparations that lasted " over a year "
The preparations to separate the two sisters, Ervina and Prefina, from Bangui, in the Central African Republic, lasted " more than a year (...) and culminated with three very delicate interventions ", according to the same source. " The last, the final separation, took place on June 5 and lasted 18 hours with the participation of more than 30 people between the doctors and the nurses, " the press release said. The two sisters had in common the bones of the skull, the skin and a large part of the blood system, " which was the most difficult challenge for the neurosurgery team ," said the hospital.
The two sisters have different personalities, Prefina more cheerful and lively, Erfina more serious and observant, and the doctors used a system of mirrors so that the two little girls could see and recognize each other before the separation. The two twins celebrated their second birthday a dozen days ago in the presence of their mother, who has stayed with the girls since their arrival in Italy in September 2018, as part of the hospital's international humanitarian activities. This Siamese couple is the fourth to be successfully separated in this hospital.
According to Bambino Gesù, Siamese united by the head are the rarest cases: 1 in 2.5 million live births. In the past 20 years, only two cases of Siamese linked by the skull and successfully separated have been recorded in Europe, both in London, but with characteristics different from those of the Central African sisters.
