New Life for Conjoined Twins After 30 Doctors Successfully Separate Them

A successful surgery carried out by 30 doctors in India, has seen the separation of conjoined twin boys Love and Prince Zalte, from Mumbai.

Nearly a year after Love and Prince, joined from the lower part of the chest and shared a liver, intestine, bladder and pelvis, were born to a 26-year-old mother on September 19, 2016. Doctors separated them on December 12, with a series of complex surgeries, Hindustantimes reports.

In what doctors call an extremely rare birth, the 12 hours surgery which began by 4am on Tuesday and involved pediatric surgeons, anesthetists and orthopedic surgeons, among others doctors, left the hospital’s operating theatres shut down, so the team could fully focus on the surgery.

Dr Pradnya Bendre, head of paediatric surgery, Wadia Hospital, who led the team of 30 doctors monitoring the children in the hospital’s intensive care unit, said;

“They had to be operated very carefully as we feared that they may suffer heavy bleeding or their blood pressure may drop. The surgery lasted for 12 hours.

Giving anesthesia to children is always challenging, as one has to be very accurate with the dose,” she added.

Doctors said the children are now in a stable condition, however, they have inadequate skin to cover the internal organs because of which they have used ‘prosthetic mesh’ and collagen, to prevent infections.

Their mother, Sheetal Zalte, who lives with her husband in Ghatkopar, said she learnt about the their condition during the fifth month of her pregnancy, when she was visiting her parents.

“The doctor that I visited in Vikhroli with the anomaly scan reports and sonography test told me nothing about my children’s condition.

I learnt about their conjoint condition from a gynaecologist in Vadodara. It is hard to express in words how happy I will be to hold my children in both my arms,” she added.
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