Both boys, named Abdullah and Abdulrahman, are reportedly doing well
A large team of surgeons, led by the country’s former Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, completed the procedure in Riyadh
Their bowels, urinary systems, and then the pelvic bones were separated
Cared for in paediatric intensive care unit at King Abdulaziz Medical City
A pair of conjoined baby boys are expected to make a full recovery after being successfully separated in a nine-hour operation in Saudi Arabia.
A team of surgeons, led by the country’s former Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, completed the difficult procedure in Riyadh.
Both of the babies, named Abdullah and Abdulrahman, are reportedly doing very well.
The twins, who are from the Republic of Yemen, were taken to Saudi Arabia to be operated on at the King Abdulaziz Medical City in the capital.
During preliminary tests, the medical team discovered that the twins shared organs, including the intestines.
A hospital spokesman said the multi-disciplinary medical team separated the pair after a nine-hour surgery carried out in nine stages at the weekend.
He said: ‘The bowels needed to be separated as well as their urinary systems and then the pelvic bones.
‘When they were separated they were then divided into two teams to reconstruct the twins.’
The team consisted of Dr. Al-Rabeeah, Saudi consultants in anaesthesiology, paediatric, orthopaedic, plastic surgery and urinary tract surgery as well as nursing and technical staff.
The surgeons originally gave the twins a 60 to 70 per cent chance of survival, but say that has now significantly improved with both are expected to survive the operation.
They are currently being cared for in the paediatric intensive care unit at the hospital.
This separation is the 35th performed on Siamese twins in the kingdom since 1990 on cases from more than 18 countries, including the Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.
Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons in the separation of conjoined twins – with 30 successful cases 30 over the past two decades.
Last week, ten-month-old conjoined baby girls, from Texas, survived a world-first operation to separate them.
Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata shared the same chest wall, lungs, pericardial sac (the lining of the heart), diaphragm, liver, intestines, colon and pelvis.
A team of more than 26 clinicians, including 12 surgeons, six anesthesiologists and eight surgical nurses at the Texas Children’s Hospital operated to separate the girls.
The 26-hour surgery was the first time twins conjoined at the chest and abdomen in this way had been successfully separated.
