RIYADH: Jamaican conjoined twins Azaria and Azura Elson were successfully separated after a five-hour operation, according to an official statement.
The specialized medical team from the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program achieved the milestone by separating the twins in a complex procedure performed in Riyadh at the King Abdullah Specialized Children’s Hospital, affiliated with the Ministry of National Guard.
The surgery was reduced to five hours because of the absence of shared intestines, and the surgical team expedited the procedure given Azura’s critical heart condition, it added.
In an earlier statement, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, who headed the surgical team, said the children arrived in the Kingdom on July 28. Al-Rabeeah is also an adviser at the royal court and leads the Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief.
The twins shared a lower chest, abdomen and liver, and possibly also intestines and pericardium, Al-Rabeeah said.
