Recently born conjoined twins were successfully separated in a six-hour operation at Netcare Unitas Hospital in Centurion on Saturday.
Photo from ANA
The twin girls from Swaziland, Uwenzile and Uyihlelile Shilongonyane, who together weighed 4.21kg at birth, were born joined at the abdomen on January 2 to 19-year-old Bongekile Simelane and her husband Mbongeni Sihlongonyane.
Speaking ahead of the procedure, paediatric surgeons Dr Mariza de Villiers and Dr Paul Stevens agreed that the twins had a good prognosis.
“This type of conjoined twins are known as omphalopagus twins, which means they were joined at the lower abdomen and do not share a heart,” they said.
“Pre-operative assessments indicated that the babies also did not share any other vital organs. This considerably improved their chances of surviving the surgical separation and will also contribute greatly to them leading healthy lives going forward,” said De Villiers.
The Shilongonyane girls are the second set of conjoined twins that De Villiers and Stevens have separated and are the first to have their separation surgery done at Netcare Unitas Hospital.
De Villiers said the twins were joined only by a bridge of skin which made the operation simpler than if they shared vital organs.
“There are always considerable risks when separating conjoined twins, but we have been cautiously optimistic all along that the operation would have a good outcome for both twins. The fact that there was a skin bridge between them meant that there was sufficient skin to close the resultant surgical wound on each baby without the need for plastic surgery,” she said.
“We are all so impressed with the ease with which this young mother has been handling her conjoined babies, considering the difficulty in doing something as basic as picking them up,” commented general manager of Netcare Unitas Hospital Robert Jordaan.
“The operation involved a team of eight doctors and a theatre team of 11 nursing professionals. This is a proud moment for Netcare Unitas Hospital. What happened here today represents a milestone in the medical history of our facility,” he said.
