22 May, 2005 18:01 GMT
'We've realigned their legs and we're confident they can at least hop around on crutches. They had a full set of organs themselves so now that they are separated they have almost everything that baby girls should have.'
Two 15-month-old Indonesian sisters who were born joined at the stomach and hip were recovering well Sunday a day after a successful operation to separate them, surgeons said.
"The twins are doing very well. Both woke up this morning and were smiling at their parents and the doctors," said Dr. Tan Kai Chah, who gathered a team of 16 doctors for the ten-hour operation in Singapore.
Tan said one of the girls, Anggi, had already been taken off the ventilator while her sister Anjeli would remain on it for another day.
"I am very hopeful of the outcome," consultant surgeon and team leader Dr. Edward Kiely said late Saturday.
The twins were born fused at the stomach and hip and they had three legs. Following the surgery, the girls now have one leg each and will later be fitted with artificial limbs. Doctors used muscle and tissue from the third leg -- which had no knee or hip joint and could not function -- in the operation.
"We've realigned their legs and we're confident they can at least hop around on crutches," Kiely said. "They had a full set of organs themselves so now that they are separated they have almost everything that baby girls should have."
Doctors said the twins could remain hospitalized for up to three weeks.
The operation -- which cost 450,000 Singapore dollars (US$271,000; euro215,000) -- was especially risky for Anjeli, who has a hole in her heart, and doctors cautioned that the girls would be in intensive care for some time yet.
"This time next week, if everything goes without complications, I'd say they are out of danger," Kiely said.
Their mother, though, was excited and happy after the operation.
"I feel so glad because the doctors have separated my daughters. We thank the doctors' team from London and Singapore who separated my daughters," Neng Armaini said.
The girls arrived in Singapore in February to undergo tests to determine whether to go ahead with the operation.
Conjoined twins occur about once in every 150,000 to 200,000 live births.
Up to 60 percent of conjoined twins are stillborn, and 35 percent survive 24 hours or less. Those who survive longer are often plagued by medical complications because they share organs and vital systems.
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