Health & Medicine
Six-week Old Conjoined Twins Successfully Separated at Dallas Hospital [VIDEO]
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Aug 30, 2013 07:21 AM EDT
Six-week-old conjoined twins who shared a liver and parts of their digestive system were successfully separated after a nine-hour surgery Saturday, and are doing well.
Born on July 17 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, the two babies, Owen and Emmett Ezell, were conjoined right from their breastbone to their hip bone. The twins were immediately shifted to Dallas for proper medical care. Before the surgery, the twins shared a liver and intestine. They were born with birth defect omphalocele- a part of their lower stomach was not covered with skin or muscles and the intestines were outside the body.
Only a handful of such cases have been recorded in medical history and generally this birth defect is linked to high mortality rate and severe malformations.
The twins, who had a 50 percent chances of survival, are under constant monitoring and are reported to be in a stable condition at the Medical City Children's Hospital after the fifth day of the surgery. They have been stabilized but continue to stay on breathing support. The twins were treated by neonatologist Dr. Clair Schwendeman.
"I'm just so happy that they're here and they're alive and thriving. It's the best feeling in the world," Jenni Ezell, 31, said during a news conference at the Medical City Children's Hospital in Dallas.
It was in March when Ezell was 17 weeks pregnant that she discovered she was carrying conjoined twins. Some doctors said that the chances of survival of the babies were slim. Ezell, along with her husband Dave, decided to abort the baby then. But specialists at the Dallas Medical City were more positive, reports the Associated Press.
"Ezell twins would need future surgeries to fix IV lines and to add abdominal muscle. For now, the goal of the medical team is to keep the babies healthy, let them heal and learn how to tell them apart," said Dr. Schwendeman.
The twins that weighed 11 pounds and 15 ounces at birth, now weigh 16 pounds after the surgery indicating a positive progress.
See Now:
NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone
TagsConjoined Twins ©2024 ScienceWorldReport.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The window to the world of science news.
More on SCIENCEwr
First Posted: Aug 30, 2013 07:21 AM EDT
Six-week-old conjoined twins who shared a liver and parts of their digestive system were successfully separated after a nine-hour surgery Saturday, and are doing well.
Born on July 17 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, the two babies, Owen and Emmett Ezell, were conjoined right from their breastbone to their hip bone. The twins were immediately shifted to Dallas for proper medical care. Before the surgery, the twins shared a liver and intestine. They were born with birth defect omphalocele- a part of their lower stomach was not covered with skin or muscles and the intestines were outside the body.
Only a handful of such cases have been recorded in medical history and generally this birth defect is linked to high mortality rate and severe malformations.
The twins, who had a 50 percent chances of survival, are under constant monitoring and are reported to be in a stable condition at the Medical City Children's Hospital after the fifth day of the surgery. They have been stabilized but continue to stay on breathing support. The twins were treated by neonatologist Dr. Clair Schwendeman.
"I'm just so happy that they're here and they're alive and thriving. It's the best feeling in the world," Jenni Ezell, 31, said during a news conference at the Medical City Children's Hospital in Dallas.
It was in March when Ezell was 17 weeks pregnant that she discovered she was carrying conjoined twins. Some doctors said that the chances of survival of the babies were slim. Ezell, along with her husband Dave, decided to abort the baby then. But specialists at the Dallas Medical City were more positive, reports the Associated Press.
"Ezell twins would need future surgeries to fix IV lines and to add abdominal muscle. For now, the goal of the medical team is to keep the babies healthy, let them heal and learn how to tell them apart," said Dr. Schwendeman.
The twins that weighed 11 pounds and 15 ounces at birth, now weigh 16 pounds after the surgery indicating a positive progress.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone