Kamis, 21 Juni 2012

Conjoined twins who were abandoned by their poverty-stricken parents are successfully separated

Conjoined twins who were abandoned by their poverty-stricken parents are successfully separated

  • Indian sisters Aradhana and Stuti had a fused liver and shared a heart membrane

By Claire Bates

PUBLISHED: 03:19 EST, 21 June 2012 | UPDATED: 08:26 EST, 21 June 2012

A pair of 13-month-old conjoined sisters, who were abandoned by their poverty-stricken parents, have been successfully separated.

Aradhana and Stuti were left at the Missionary Hospital in Padhar, India, after they were born on May 11 last year, because their parents could not afford to take care of them. Their father Hariram Yadav is a poor local farmer who has just two acres of land.

Separated: Twins Aradhana and Stuti post operation at Padhar Hospital

Separated: Twins Aradhana and Stuti post operation at Padhar Hospital. They are both on ventilators

Conjoined twins Stuti and Aradhna are pictured before a surgical operation to separate them at the Mission Hospital in India

Conjoined twins Stuti and Aradhna are pictured before a surgical operation to separate them at the Mission Hospital in India

The twins, who were joined at the chest, were separated yesterday during a 12-hour operation involving 23 doctors and 11 nurses from India and Australia. They were wheeled in the operation room at 8am, before the surgery followed from 9am to 9pm.

The team first separated their hearts, which were joined by the same membrane, followed by their fused livers.

Hospital Superintendent Dr Rajiv Choudhry said he was happy with how the surgery went. The special sisters will now remain on ventilators and under close observation for the next 48 hours.

The team had done a dry run of the entire procedure beforehand.

The surgery was funded by Indian TV viewers and local politicians after hearing of their plight.

The outpouring of generosity, with thousands of small donations by members of the public, is unusual in India where girls are often not valued in rural communities and disabled babies are often abandoned.

Public generosity was matched by a £22,000 fund from the Madhya Pradesh state government.

Medical experts from India and Australia work to separate the twins

Medical experts from India and Australia work to separate the twins

Indian mother Maya Yadav holds her one-year-old conjoined twin daughters Aradhana and Stuti

The twins, pictured with their mother, left, were joined by their heart membrane and livers

The girls have been cared for by hospital staff since their birth, with three nurses taking shifts to act as surrogate mothers. Surgeons at the under-equipped Paddar Hospital spent months appealing for international help and preparing for the operation.

The hospital persuaded the parents, who already have a six-year-old son, to continue having a relationship with their daughters. The couple Hari Ram Yadav and Maya Yadav now hope to take their girls home after surgery.

The twin girls have been looked after and even named by the hospital staff. Both their names mean 'prayer'

The twin girls have been looked after and even named by the hospital staff. Both their names mean 'prayer'

'We are happy that they will finally get to be a family and both the girls will get a proper home,' said Vikas Sonwani, assistant administrator of Paddar Hospital.

Conjoined twins occur in around one in every 200,000 live births. They are identical - coming from a single egg that doesn't fully separate after fertilization and therefore always the same sex.

Their prospects vary widely depending on their general state of health, how they are joined and what organs are shared.  

Between 40 to 60 per cent of conjoined twins are stillborn and around 35 per cent survive only one day. The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between five and 25 per cent. Female twins are three times as likely as males to be born alive.

Surgical separation is still rare. According to the University of Maryland , at least one twin has survived separation about 75 per cent of the time since 1950.

One of the earliest documented cases of conjoined twins were Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst. They were born joined at the hip in 1100 in Kent and were know as the Biddenden maids. They died aged 34.

Before the operation: Aradhana and Stuti. Surgical separation of conjoined twins is still rare

Before the operation: Aradhana and Stuti. Surgical separation of conjoined twins is still rare

Separated: The team splits in to to work on sealing up the twins chests

Separated: The team splits in to to work on sealing up the twins chests

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

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Clive from Brighton : Are you for real, have you been in an icu ward recently ? The theatre equipment is actually quite old fashioned although obviously functions, and the bedding may well have been brought in from home as is often the case overseas !

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Some people don't deserve children. Anything is possible these days. The parents lack patience and faith.

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Beautiful little girls! Lovely if they could be with their biological parents

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those two are purely beautiful. let God be priase.

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I hope that their family can take them back home now . Best of luck . ( though I do feel some people in India will be destroyed by the generosity of the funds as I have been to India and have seen so much poorness and ill health )

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Saying 'pretty babies' or 'wishing them well' is not enough. Why not financially adopt the girls and help provide for their future. If every person to read this article were to give £1 then the girls future would be secure... and as the DM made money by filling their newspaper with the details of the story then they should set the ball rolling.

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to Lauren, UK, 21/6/2012 11:20 : the parents have abandoned them so no chance for them of going back home - helen, london, 21/6/2012 14:11 ---- Helen the article reads that the twins should be going back to the parents after the seperation.......

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Take a good look at the theater, the ward the bedding the equipment and the professionalism of the staff . Wouldn't it be nice to have those facilities over here .

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Wonderful job done by surgeons. Congrtulations to the whole team...wish the girls the best of health and joy...God be with the parents for their love courage !!

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to Lauren, UK, 21/6/2012 11:20 : the parents have abandoned them so no chance for them of going back home

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