Doctors at Narayana Health City have performed a rare procedure on conjoined twins who shared a single heart and successfully managed to save the life of one of the twins. The doctors performed what they claim the world’s first PDA stenting as well as the region’s first thoracopagus separation surgery to separate the twins.
The conjoined twins from Mauritius were brought to Narayana Health City in January when they were two weeks old. One of the twins suffered from non-correctable congenital anomalies. Usually, thoracopagus twins are conjoined from the neck to the upper abdomen. In this case, they shared the heart and liver too. Instead of four chambers for each, they had seven chambers together.
As it was a complex case with fewer chances of survival, the twins’ parents were asked to consult other hospitals and they eventually decided to bring the children to Bengaluru after visiting other hospitals in Europe and Asia. A multidisciplinary team headed by a paediatric surgeon, and comprising of a pediatric cardiologist, critical care service consultant, anaesthesia consultant, and neonatology consultant, examined the babies. The doctors put them in intensive care, and once stabilized, PDA stenting, wherein a stent was placed to maintain blood flow to the heart was performed to improve the condition of the heart.
But it was then found that one of the babies was weak with poorly developed lungs and abnormal blood vessels and they could only save the healthy child.
The surviving twin, a baby girl, is named Cleanne Papillon. “We thought we’d lose both of them. Today, we have at least one of our babies with us,” said her father Ian Papillon. The surviving baby is all set to fly back to her country.
The medical team that conducted the surgery included Dr Ashley D’Cruz, Dr Sanjay Rao, Dr Shreesha Maiya, Dr Riyan Shetty, Dr Ganesh S and Dr Harini Sreedharan.
“We will present this case to scientific journals,” said Dr Devi Shetty, chairman and founder, Narayana Health.
Source: Times of India, The New Indian Express