Conjoined twins: 30 specialists get to work at AIIMS

The twins at AIIMS

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Thursday morning began the second stage of surgery on the conjoined twins from Odisha, senior officials said. Senior AIIMS officials said a team of over 30 specialists from the Institute began the second stage of India’s first craniopagus surgery to separate the two twins — Jaga and Baliya — who are joined at the skull at 5.30 am on Thursday.

Sources said the second stage, where the actual separation of the twins will take place, is likely to last at least 24 hours. “The twins were taken to the OT at 5.30 am. The second stage of the surgery began at around 9 am. The entire procedure will take at least 24 hours to complete. The actual separation of the twins will take place in this stage,” the official said.

On August 29, the first stage of the craniopagus was conducted at AIIMS, where the specialists had successfully separated a “significant of portion” of the brain of the two-year-old twins from Odisha.

“Both the children are still united at the head as before from the outside. However, a significant portion of their brain was separated and a new venous bypass channel has been created in them,” Professor Deepak Gupta, paediatric neurosurgeon, had said after the first stage of the surgery.