Texas Hospital Separates Conjoined Twins In “Historic” 11-Hour Surgery
Apart for the first time in their young lives, AmieLynn and JamieLynn are reportedly “recovering well.”
Cook Children's
After months of planning, a Texas hospital is celebrating the “historic” separation of conjoined twins.
In a first for Cook Children’s Medical Center, doctors at the Fort Worth hospital successfully completed the complex, 11-hour procedure to separate 16-week-old AmieLynn and JamieLynn Finley on Monday.
“While still very early, both AmieLynn and JamieLynn are recovering well,” officials said in a news release.
AmieLynn and JamieLynn were born prematurely to Fort Worth residents Amanda Arciniega and James Finley on October 3. The infants, who arrived sharing a liver, have called Cook Children’s Medical Center’s NICU home since November 2022.
“I would not have thought in a million years that I would have twins,” Arciniega said in an interview provided by the hospital. “And then conjoined twins on top of that.”
Cook Children's
Conjoined twins are estimated to occur in only 1-in-200,000 live births. JamieLynn and AmieLynn are omphalopagus twins, meaning they are joined at the abdomen and share one or more internal organs. Only about 10% of babies born conjoined are omphalopagus twins.
“As far as conjoined twins that reach and stay viable after birth, at least for the first few days, there's really only about five to eight of those per year on the entire planet, so it is very rare,” Jose Iglesias, M.D., Cook Children’s medical director of pediatric surgery, said in a statement.
JamieLynn and AmieLynn’s surgery involved a large team of experts. Three anesthesiologists, four pediatric surgeons, two plastic surgeons, and 18 other clinical professionals were separated into two color-coded teams. Those in purple scrub hats were on JamieLynn’s team, while Team AmieLynn wore green scrub hats. Everyone worked together until the babies were separate, then each team focused solely on their assigned baby.
Cook Children's
Despite needing extensive rehabilitation, doctors say they’re optimistic about the infants’ future.
“I'm very hopeful that they're going to have a good recovery and lead healthy lives in the future,” Dr. Iglesias said. “They're going to have a bit of a ramp up from the recovery, but I think they're going to be able to get there eventually, and very close to normal if not completely normal.”
Well done, y’all!
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