A pair of Sudanese conjoined twins was separated Saturday in 11 hours of surgery, instead of the scheduled 15 hours, by a surgical team headed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah.

The twins, together with their parents, were flown to the Kingdom from Khartoum some weeks ago.

The twins, Rammah and Waddah, were separated by a multi-disciplinary medical team comprising 28 doctors from various medical specialties such as anesthesia, pediatric surgery, pediatric urology, plastic surgery and pediatric orthopedic surgery, plus nursing and support departments at the King Abdullah Specialty Children’s Hospital, King Abdu Aziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs in the capital.

The twins underwent intensive medical checkups and tests to set up a plan for the separation procedure. During the initial examination of the twins, the medical team found that they weighed 18 kg and were joined at the abdomen and pelvis. Each twin had one lower limb in addition to sharing a deformed third limb.

The surgery, which started at 8 a.m., lasted 11 hours, four hours less than estimated.

The success rate was predicted at 70 percent prior to the surgery.

The father of the twins, Haroun Ishak, said his wife joined with him to offer his grateful thanks to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, and to the devoted medical team led by Al-Rabeeah, a former health minister, for giving a new lease on life to their infants.

The parents’ passage to and from Riyadh, their accommodation costs while in the Kingdom and all medical expenses related to the surgery are borne by the government as a humanitarian gesture on a directive of King Salman.

This was the 40th case to be separated by the Saudi team, and it also marked the 24th case of conjoined twins to be separated by a Saudi multi-disciplinary team, who have reviewed 97 cases from 19 countries since 1999.

Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons for the separation of twins with the experience of treating a good number of twins from several countries. Besides the Kingdom, the twins came from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.

Al-Rabeeah, who is the president of medical and surgical team for separating conjoined twins, is the general supervisor of the King Salman Center for Relief Humanitarian Aid.

[vuukle]