In Brazil, conjoined twins born bound by the skull were separated after multiple surgeries. Long and complex operations that have been meticulously prepared thanks to virtual reality.
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After spending most of their lives in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro (southeast Brazil) in a special bed, Arthur and Bernardo Lima, three and a half years old, can now look each other in the face after several marathon operations in early June. Adriely Lima, their mother, cried with relief after the separation : “We’ve been living in the hospital for four years “, she confided in a press release.
This separation was made possible with the help of the London-based charity Gemini Untwined, who described it as ” the most complex never realized, given that the brothers shared several blood vessels vital.
” It was without a doubt the most complex operation of my career. “, added to AFP the neurosurgeon Gabriel Mufarrej, of the Institute of brain Paulo Niemeyer (IECPN), hospital where the operation took place. “ Basically, no one thought they were going to survive. It is already historic that the two could be saved “, he insisted, specifying that the twins were still in the hospital where “ a long recovery awaits them. ” It is not yet known how well they will be able to live a normal life “, he however tempered.
Nine surgeries
In total, the twins underwent nine surgeries, including one at 1 p.m. on June 7 and another at 11 p.m. two days later. To prepare them, the hundred members of the medical team used an ultra-modern system of virtual realityin order to reconstruct theanatomy of the Siamese before operating them.
” Looks like a space age thing “, described the British neurosurgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani, of Gemini Untwined. ” It’s wonderful to be able to observe theanatomy and perform the operation beforehand without putting children’s lives at risk (…) You can’t imagine how reassuring it is for surgeons he told the PA news agency.
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