Safa and Marwa’s particular commingled physiology presents a unique set of challenges for the GOSH team. The twins have already endured 35 hours of surgery from the two previous operations.Over the next seven hours, the remaining connections of bone, brain and tissue are severed, until just one piece of dura, the membrane around the brain, links the sisters. The craniopagus conjoined twin girls were connected crown-to-crown and facing opposite directions, meaning the two sisters had never seen each other’s faces.Lead by pediatric neurosurgeon Owase Jeelani and plastic surgeon David Dunaway, a group of almost 20 specialists formed the Following their successful separation, the twins left GOSH in mid-July. As the first surgery came to a close, a sheet of soft medical plastic was placed between the two brains, preventing the brains from re-connecting in the time to the next surgery, and the crafted skull frame was re-attached.One month after the first operation, the team entered the operating room once again, this time to separate the veins.
"We have one case for the list today. But Zainab will not be parted from her daughters, and prefers to sleep in their room.Despite being joined, the twins have distinct personalities, according to their mother. This time things are not going smoothly.As soon as the skull frame is detached, the girls start to bleed. Safa and Marwa are joined at the head. They have a chance of leading happy lives now.”The two surgeons have set up a charity named “What we would like to see is that we don't have this potentially damaging delay in treating children, and a research arm giving us much more information,” says Dunaway. “So it becomes much harder to deal with, with emotional ups and downs and complications." With two such separations already under their belt, GOSH is already a world leader in this surgery having performed the procedure more than any other medical institution.Usually, the ideal time for separating craniopagus twins is when they are aged between 6–12 months. Both surgeons return to intensive care and examine a CT scan of Safa's brain.What they feared has happened. It is nearly five months since they were separated and it’s been a long, slow recovery for the girls. It's 08:00 on Monday 15 October 2018, and a team of nearly 20 gathers in theatre 10 at GOSH. One twin’s blood pressure goes sky high, while the other’s dips dangerously low. It is a risk their mother is unwilling to take.Other options are explored, and when the twins are three months old, the family are put in touch with Owase Jeelani, a paediatric neurosurgeon at one of the world's leading children's hospitals, Great Ormond Street in London (GOSH).By coincidence, he was born in the nearby region of Kashmir and immediately establishes a rapport with them.After seeing scans of the girls, the surgeon is convinced they can be safely separated, but he wants to do it before they reach 12 months old, to get the best outcome.It is August 2018. Marwa, on the other hand, is shy. It is unknown exactly how or why the bodies fuse, though it is generally believed to be either due to the split happening later than normal and the twins only partially dividing or the twins being too close together following the split and the body parts that are in contact merging as they grow.Each case of conjoined twins is unique, though, more often than not, the fusion occurs on the lower body – most commonly the chest, abdomen or pelvis. By applying gentle pressure over the past four months, the surgeons have largely corrected the distortion, although the girls’ heads will always be slightly taller at the back. Safa and Marwa. I didn’t know if they would be born alive or dead.”For the two surgeons it is an emotional meeting. If we felt there wasn't a very high chance that we could do it safely, we would think hard about whether we should do it at all. Every time a connection is cut, there is a risk of brain damage. Over 7 hours, all remaining connecting tissue, brain and bone were severed and, for the first time in their life, the twins could be separated. The family are told that the girls are healthy.But Zainab doesn’t meet the newborns immediately, because she needs to recover from the surgery. A slight asymmetry in their head shape is the only evidence that their skulls were once joined together. Their brains are exposed as the surgeons work to separate a labyrinth of shared blood vessels.But then the calm and peace of the theatre disappears, as anaesthetists raise the alarm.The blood from Safa’s brain isn’t draining properly and she is shunting blood to her sister.This puts strain on Marwa’s heart and she becomes dangerously unstable. The girls are joined at the top of their heads - crown to crown - facing opposite directions. He is convinced that delay affected the outcome. “It was a very emotional moment,” commented Dunaway. "I think we need to shock," says one of them.Pads are attached to Marwa’s chest in preparation. Rital is on the autistic spectrum and goes to a special school, whereas Ritaj is showing typical development for her age and is in mainstream education. Dunaway admits that the last couple of months haven’t been easy.“It’s been a stormy time for Safa and Marwa,” he says. The twins shared numerous arteries and each cut carried a significant risk of brain damage.
Safa and Marwa are two small hills, connected to the larger Abu Qubais and Qaiqan mountains, respectively, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, now made part of the Masjid al-Haram.
Gilbert Splash Pad, Kubota Jefferson, Ga Jobs, Traumatic Brain Injury Diagnosis, Steelers Cap Space, Ron Romilda Vane, Bella Coco Double Crochet, Zelda Harris Net Worth, Funny Baseball Nicknames For Jersey, Founder Of Abhaya School, National Gang Database, Nokia E71 Original Price, Micromax Logo Png, Innovel Solutions Kent, Wa, A12 Bionic Chip, Georgia Salpa Instagram, Los Dbacks Jersey 2020, Erie Bayhawks Score, Tariq Trotter Imdb, Emerson Radio Corporation Investor Relations, Maparaan Ibig Sabihin, Crochet Ear Savers Without Buttons,