As of: January 19, 2024, 7:04 p.m
By: Robin Dittrich
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Conjoined twins were born in August 2023 at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf.
Now they could be separated successfully.
Hamburg - In a four-hour operation, two girls who were connected at the stomach were separated from each other at the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).
Seven weeks earlier they had been born by cesarean section at 33 weeks of pregnancy.
As the UKE reported in a press release from January 10, 2024, the parents of the twins found out in the tenth week of pregnancy that they were unusually close together.
A further investigation two weeks later confirmed that they were connected.
Even before birth, it was clear to the parents and the medical team that the twins would most likely be separated.
Conjoined twins successfully separated during surgery
The twins, who were conjoined at birth, were successfully separated from each other at the UKE Hamburg.
© University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf
“Even before birth, it was determined using ultrasound examination and fetal MRI that all vital organs were present in both twins and that there was only a fusion of the abdominal wall and the two livers,” said Prof. Dr.
Reinshagen, director of the clinic.
The separation of the children was carried out by Dr.
Reinshagen on the expected date of birth on October 6, 2023.
As a result, the two girls continued to be looked after at the UKE and were able to go home at the end of October - both made a full recovery.
One woman even became the mother of conjoined twins at the age of 70.
The birth of the conjoined twins required a variety of planning and a large medical team.
“It was a particular challenge because with a normal twin birth, only one child at a time has to fit through the opening of the uterus, as they are brought into the world one after the other.
In this case, there were two children at the same time,” the press release says.
However, the entire team “quickly adjusted to caring for the children in a double pack.”
Conjoined children were formerly known as “Siamese twins”.
Conjoined twins used to be known as “Siamese twins”.
The term was first used for the twins Chang and Eng Bunker, who lived between 1811 and 1874 and were connected to each other at the hull.
This term is no longer used today - today they are just known as conjoined twins.
It is not sufficiently clear how conjoined twins can even arise.
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Conjoined twins can develop from the division of a fertilized egg.
“The earlier this division takes place after fertilization, the more complete it is,” writes the UKE.
However, if the separation only takes place after two weeks, the physical separation is no longer complete - the twins remain connected to each other.
According to estimates, these pregnancies only occur at a frequency of 1:50,000 to 1:200,000.
Parents often decide to have an abortion because the twins' chances of survival are extremely poor, depending on the condition.
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approx
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