Surgeons separated baby boy from parasitic twin in Riyadh
- Baby boy Haneen was cut away from his sister Farah who did not survive
- The procedure started at 8am and did not finish until 11pm that evening
- Doctors first separated the twins’ intestines and liver, followed by their pelvis
- The twins were connected via the abdomen and finally separated at the hips
- It is unclear how Haneen is recovering after the highly-complicated operation
Alexandra Thompson Health Reporter For Mailonline
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Surgeons have successfully separated a baby boy from his parasitic twin in a 15-hour operation.
The fully-formed baby boy, known only as Haneen, was cut away from his parasitic twin sister, named Farah, who did not survive as she had no lungs or heart of her own and very little brain tissue.
In a gruelling procedure that started at 8am and did not finish until 11pm that evening, doctors first separated the twins’ intestines and liver, following by their urinary system and pelvis.
The twins, who were connected via the abdomen, were finally separated at the hips at the King Abdullah Specialised Children’s Hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
It is unclear how Haneen is recovering.
Conjoined twins occur in around one in a million live births.
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Surgeons have separated a baby boy from his parasitic twin in a 15-hour operation
Doctors first separated the twins’ shared intestines and liver, following by their pelvis
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WHAT IS A PARASITIC TWIN?
Parasitic twins occur when a baby is born with the attached tissue of an undeveloped twin who died in the womb.
The parasitic twin’s tissues are dependent upon the ‘host’.
Parasitic twins arise when identical twins fail to separate.
It is unclear why this occurs, but may be due to a restricted blood supply during pregnancy, which leads to the death and partial absorption of one of the twins.
Source: Live Science
Haneen’s recovery is unclear
While the procedure was being carried out, the surgeon Dr Al-Rabiah said: ‘The surgery is going on as planned successfully, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will record it as the 45th successful twin separation surgery.’
The complicated operation involved inserting small cameras into the babies’ separate urethras, which were followed by catheters.
It is unclear how old the babies were when the procedure was carried out.
This comes after Hemlata Singh, from Jodphur, India, gave birth to a healthy baby named Sonni in 2016, but attached to his stomach was his partially-formed, parasitic twin, putting the infant’s life at risk.
At just nine days old, Sonni was separated from his parasitic twin via the liver they shared before disconnecting the artery that carried blood from Sonni’s heart to his twin’s deformed organ.
As expected, the twin died shortly after surgery, with Sonni going home 12 days later.
Surgeon Dr Al-Rabiah said the operation was going as plan while it was underway
The complicated operation involved inserting small cameras into the babies’ separate urethras
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