The Week Junior UK - Issue 189, 27 July 2019

14

Scienceand technology

The Week Junior•27July

D

octors atLondon’sGreat Ormond Street Hospital

(GOSH) have successfully separatedapair of two-

year-old twin girls, who wereborn with their skulls

joined together.The groundbreaking surgery took

morethan 50 hours in the operating theatre.

Conjoined twins–identical twins born with some

part of their bodiesconnected–are ex tremelyrare,

making up only oneinevery 2.5millionbirths.They

areusuallyconnected at the chest, abdomen or

pelvis;however,Safaand MarwaUllah, born in 2017

in Pakistan, areeven rarer. They arecraniopagus

twins, which means they wereborn with their skulls

and blood vessels of the brain fused together.

GOSH isaworld leader in this type of surgery.

Beforethe operation,ateamof

surgeons created computer images

of Safaand Marwa’sarteries,

brains, skulls and veins. They

also made 3D-printed models of

the shared skull to practise on

beforethe real surgery.

The first operation took

placeinOctober 2018, when

doctors separated the tangled

blood vessels around the twins’

brains. They then insertedaplastic

barrier inside the skull tokeep the two

sides apart.Asecond operation, in November 2018,

divided the most important shared blood vessels,

making sureeach brain had its own independent

blood supply.

In the thirdand final operation inFebruary

this year,surgeons fully separated the girls and

reco nstructed their skulls using their own bone. After

four months of surgery involving 100 GOSH staff,

Safaand Marwawereable to seeeach other for the

first time in their lives. Brain surgeon Noor Ul Owase

Jeelani and skull-and-facesurgeon Professor David

Dunaway,who led the team, said,“Weare delighted

we have been able to help Safaand Marwaand their

family.Ith as beenalong andcomplexjourney.We

areincredibly proud of them.”

By 1July,the twins werewell

enough to be sent home, but they

will needregular check-ups and

further treatment to help them

as theycontinue to grow and

develop.Their mother Zainab

Bibi said,“Weare indebted to

the hospital and to the staff

and we would liketot hank

them for everything they have

done.We areextremelyexcited

about the future.”

Pioneeringsurgery

separatestwins

DIDYOU

KNOW?

Thefirs

tsurgery

tosepa

rate

twinsjoine

datthe

head

happene

din1952. Sinc

ethen,

ithas only

been attemp

ted

about 60

times.

1

Doctors

study

the twins’

brains...

3

Blood

vessels

aresplit and

adivider is

inserted

5

Skulls

and

brains are

separated

completely

2

...and

map out

shared blood

vessels.

4

Fluid-

filled

packsstretch

out the skin.

6

Gaps arefilled

using twins’own

one andcovered

stretched skin.

Howdid the operationswork?

inserted.

ly.

bo

A3Dmodel of the

twins’shared skull.

Safaand Marwa

after their surgery.