The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud congratulated the Multidisciplinary Surgical and Medical Team for the successfully separation procedure of the Saudi Conjoined Twins (Abdullah & Salman) and their parents wishing them a good health. The Multidisciplinary Surgical and Medical Team in King Abdulaziz Medical City – National Guard Health Affairs has become internationally acclaimed for the field of separating conjoined twins with Abdullah & Salman being the 31 separation to take place.
The Multidisciplinary Surgical and Medical Team headed by His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah finished the procedure on a successful note in about eight and a half hours.
The separation procedure was conducted through eight stages, it began with full anesthesia then an upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy was performed for both of the twins.
After that, the team moved on to the 3rd stage witch is the preparation process, followed by the 4th stage in which the process of the separation started and lasted for an hour. In the 5th stage, separating the liver and intestines took place and lasted for two and a half hours, followed by urinary tract area which was the 6th stage. Furthermore, the 7th stage covered the reconstruction of various organs. Finally, the closing phase included covering, and transportation.
Moreover, Dr. Abdullah Zabin – a Consultant Digestive Diseases in Pediatrics and the head of the Pediatrics Department at NGHA - Riyadh said that one of the twins was suffering from kidney problems and later on it was found that one of the kidneys is not functioning properly and may need to be removed, while the other twin had healthy kidneys. He also stated that the upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy was performed because Abduallah was suffering from constant vomiting. Later on, it was confirmed that the esophagus and the stomach were free of any infections or congenital stenosis in both of the twins.
Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah stated during a press conference held after the surgery yesterday that Abdullah’s condition, who has only one kidney is stable now and the kidney is functioning normally which he described as a positive indicator.
Furthermore, Dr. Nasser Alhudab and Dr. Manaf Ghazawi both Consultants in Plastic Surgery stated that the contact cavity in the chest and abdomen were constructed using compensatory tissues for both of the twins and the closure of the skin was done by moving skin tissues.
Dr. Mohammed Zamakhshari - Consultant in Pediatric Surgery said that there were adhesions in the intestines and were handled by electrocautery and now both of their intestines are functioning normally.
In addition, Dr. Hani Najm – a Consultant in Cardiac Surgery said both of the twins has no cardiac abnormalities other than sharing a single membrane, The membrane was split into two sections enough for each heart without putting pressure on each heart.
Finally, Dr. Hala Alalim- a Consulting in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) stated that the twins are in the NICU and both are stable and need several days until they’ll be off the artificial respirators.