NewsWhore
11-09-2011, 04:20 PM
First Lady Margarita Cedeno was in Richmond, Virginia to await the outcome of the operation of the Dominican conjoined twins yesterday. The good news is that the Virginia Commonwealth University pediatric surgeons announced the success of the separation surgery of 19-month-old Dominican conjoined twins Maria and Teresa Tapia.
The operation began at 6am and lasted 20 hours. Dr. David Lanning led a team of about 45 physicians and pediatric subspecialists who volunteered their time.
The twins were joined at the lower chest and abdomen and shared a liver, part of their biliary system, pancreas glands and the first part of the small intestine making this a very complex procedure. It was the first surgery of its kind at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
Lanning explained that the smaller twin, Maria, was never able to receive the nutritional benefits she needed and was nearly 20 percent smaller in size than Teresa because of the nature of the twins' connection with their small intestines. Another major challenge posed by the shared liver was the lack of blood return to the smaller twin.
During the procedures, the surgeons divided the liver, pancreas and other shared organ systems and rebuilt the girls' abdominal walls.
The children first came to the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU in December 2010 through the World Pediatric Project. They returned in August 2011 to prepare for the surgery with their mother, 24-year old Lisandra Sanatis.
Following the separation, Teresa was taken to another operating room and teams completed the final steps of the surgical process on each child. The girls were then transported to individual rooms in the pediatric intensive care unit for recovery after the procedure.
"One of the things that is encouraging for us is that there's such a high potential for them to be functioning, freely mobile, very active individual girls," said Lanning. "Once we feel like they're medically stable, and think that it's safe, we'll try to get them potentially in the same room and near each other for their sake and for mom's sake."
The World Pediatric Project, a nonprofit surgical-care provider for children in Central America and the Caribbean, sponsored the twins' medical care, along with the family's stay in the United States.
The Office of the First Lady had been assisting the children in the Dominican Republic.
The story of the conjoined twins separation made the Washington Post.
The plan is for the children to go home before the end of the year. Their father is a construction worker and they have three other siblings.
http://news.vcu.edu/news/VCU_Performs_Separation_Surgery_on_Conjoined_Twins
www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/conjoined-toddler-girls-from-the-dominican-republic-undergo-separation-surgery-at-va-hospital/2011/11/08/gIQAEbBT1M_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/conjoined-toddler-girls-from-the-dominican-republic-undergo-separation-surgery-at-va-hospital/2011/11/08/gIQAEbBT1M_story.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)
The operation began at 6am and lasted 20 hours. Dr. David Lanning led a team of about 45 physicians and pediatric subspecialists who volunteered their time.
The twins were joined at the lower chest and abdomen and shared a liver, part of their biliary system, pancreas glands and the first part of the small intestine making this a very complex procedure. It was the first surgery of its kind at the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU.
Lanning explained that the smaller twin, Maria, was never able to receive the nutritional benefits she needed and was nearly 20 percent smaller in size than Teresa because of the nature of the twins' connection with their small intestines. Another major challenge posed by the shared liver was the lack of blood return to the smaller twin.
During the procedures, the surgeons divided the liver, pancreas and other shared organ systems and rebuilt the girls' abdominal walls.
The children first came to the Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU in December 2010 through the World Pediatric Project. They returned in August 2011 to prepare for the surgery with their mother, 24-year old Lisandra Sanatis.
Following the separation, Teresa was taken to another operating room and teams completed the final steps of the surgical process on each child. The girls were then transported to individual rooms in the pediatric intensive care unit for recovery after the procedure.
"One of the things that is encouraging for us is that there's such a high potential for them to be functioning, freely mobile, very active individual girls," said Lanning. "Once we feel like they're medically stable, and think that it's safe, we'll try to get them potentially in the same room and near each other for their sake and for mom's sake."
The World Pediatric Project, a nonprofit surgical-care provider for children in Central America and the Caribbean, sponsored the twins' medical care, along with the family's stay in the United States.
The Office of the First Lady had been assisting the children in the Dominican Republic.
The story of the conjoined twins separation made the Washington Post.
The plan is for the children to go home before the end of the year. Their father is a construction worker and they have three other siblings.
http://news.vcu.edu/news/VCU_Performs_Separation_Surgery_on_Conjoined_Twins
www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/conjoined-toddler-girls-from-the-dominican-republic-undergo-separation-surgery-at-va-hospital/2011/11/08/gIQAEbBT1M_story.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/conjoined-toddler-girls-from-the-dominican-republic-undergo-separation-surgery-at-va-hospital/2011/11/08/gIQAEbBT1M_story.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#2)