Yemeni conjoined twins successfully separated

Surgeons led by former Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah have successfully separated the Yemeni conjoined twins at the King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh. A KAMC official said the multidisciplinary medical team separated Abdullah and Abdulrahman after a nine-hour surgery on Saturday. Prominent Saudi consultants in anesthesiology, pediatric, orthopedic, plastic surgery and pediatrics urinary tract surgery as well as nursing and technical staff were part of the team. According to preliminary clinical tests conducted by the medical team, the success rate of the surgery was predicted to be 60-70 percent. It underwent nine stages for the operation, which started with anesthesia, prepping, as well as inserting the necessary catheters, followed by sterilization then the incision and opening stage, after which the bowel separation took place followed by the urological and gentile system separation. The orthopedic surgical team then separated the pelvic bones. After that the team was divided into two teams to proceed with the reconstruction stage in which the reconstruction of the gastro, urological and gentile system have been completely reconstructed. Finally, the ninth and the final stage was dressing and coverage in which the plastic surgery team closed the wounds, followed by transferring the twins to the pediatric intensive care unit until their treatment is complete. Al-Rabeeah expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muqrin, deputy premier and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, second deputy premier and minister of interior for their continuous support toward the health sector in the Kingdom and also registered his thanks to National Guard Minister Prince Miteb bin Abdullah for his constant follow-up. This separation is the 35th in a series of surgeries performed on Siamese twins in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1990 on cases from more than 18 countries globally. Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons in the separation of twins with the experience of treating more than 65 twins from 18 countries of which 30 have been successful during the past two decades. The remaining cases were not fit for separation owing to health reasons. Besides the Kingdom, the twins came from countries such as Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq. -Arab news