Times of India
08 June 2010
By Seethalakshmi S
Bangalore, India

Nigerian Conjoined Twins Separated In Bangalore

Conjoined twins, 25 doctors and nurses and 10 hours. Result: medical marvel. At 6.30 am on Monday, Nigerian twins Peace and Patience were blissfully sleeping when doctors came knocking. The eightmonth-olds had travelled all the way from their home in Nigeria to Bangalore’s Narayana Health City to get their conjoined bodies separated.

Even before the sisters were wheeled into Operation Theatre-6 at the Narayana Hrudayalaya Multi-speciality hospital, the medical team had readied everything from scissors to single beds (once they are separated). Considering the rarity and complexity of the surgery as Omalgaphagus co-joined twins occur only one in 1,00,000 births, the mood at the OT was upbeat and tense. Led by Dr Ashley Dcruz, the team was ready at the word go from the crack of the dawn.

The moment doctors discovered thet their blood supply was dual or an organ was present in both the girls, it brought immediate relif
Till 9 am, the preliminary procedures of identifying the fusion of the organs was on. “Considering the challenge of the case and complexity involved, we had a complete dry run of the process two days ago. We had put in place everything who will stand where, and how will the entire separation process take place. We had trained the entire medical team for Monday’s surgery. Every move was rehearsed,’’ Dr Ashley told The Times of India as he was overseeing the historical surgery. At the operation theatre there was equal measure of emotions.

IT’S 4.11 PM
At exactly 4.11 pm, Dr Ashley told the team: “Yes, Peace and Patience are two girls today,’’ amid applause in the operation theatre
Many a nail-biting moment in OT Bangalore: A pair of conjoined twins, Patience and Peace, from Nigeria, were separated after a 10-hour surgery at the Narayana Hrudayalaya here on Monday. During the operation, there were many dramatic moments.

At 9.10 am, nearly three hours into the process, the team found the intestine co-joined. “Very challenging,’’ remarked a doctor in the team, recreating the scene.

It was the word dual that was more soothing for the team. The moment they discovered that the blood supply was dual or an organ was present in both the girls, it brought immediate relief, for absence of an organ in one baby could mean disastrous to the other.

There was equal curiosity outside the Operation Theatre. While the babies’ parents Emmanuel Adugbe and Comfort Adugbe were seen constantly praying, doctors and nurses in the adjoining OTs were keen on getting a glimpse of the medical miracle. Sensing pressure was building up on the team, Dr Ashley D’Cruz asked for the music system in the OT to be switched on. But the doctor was alert to hundred things around him simultaneously. The eagle eye was watching who was touching un-sterilized scissors or bandages in the OT. “The ground rule in the OT is to keep your hands at the back,’’ he said.

By noon the picture was clear for the team, a doctor said. The crucial liver, intestine, gall bladder had to be separated. “You take 80 cm, I will take the rest. All this belongs to that baby,’’ said the doctors as they went about the separation process. After all, they had to give it in equal measures to the twin girls. Be it nurse Selvi and Sister Asha’s alertness in handling the right scissors or Dr Ashley’s periodic joke with the team to de-stress the OT, it was team work all the way, the doctor recalled.