Chennai:
In a first of its kind in India, doctors in Chennai would attempt to surgically separate two conjoined male twins born with their backs joined.
Nine-month-old Ericana and Eludi are from a remote village in Tanzania and share the tail portion of their spinal chord and urethra. Their genitals are also fused.
Doctors at the Apollo hospitals in Chennai say the surgery scheduled for Monday, December 16, could take 18 hours and that there are 75 per cent chances of their survival if everything goes well. Dr Venkat Sripathi, from the hospital says, "Both don't have any major congenital anomalies. So our challenge is to get them both functionally alright. That's the extreme challenge."
Besides separation of the conjoined part of the spinal chord, their fused genitals would also be sliced into two halves and reconstructed by plastic surgery.
Five team of doctors including neurosurgeons, paediatric surgeons, plastic surgeons and anaesthesists would be part of the team.
The procedure could cost between twenty and forty lakhs. Their single mother is poor and hence the Tanzanian government, according to the hospital, has come forward to sponsor a major part of the operation. The hospital is prepared to foot the rest, if required.
Experts at the hospital say although conjoined twin females have lived up to 44 years in Bohemia, only four cases of conjoined males have been successfully separated.
It's a huge challenge for doctors. The mother and the hospital have asked for prayers and good wishes from people all over the world.
The hospital would also show the procedure on CCTV for doctors and the media so that the exposure could enhance their knowledge.