Twins Joined At The Skull Await Landmark Separation Surgery

image

These adorable baby twins are joined at the skull - and their parents are preparing for landmark surgery to separate them.

Four-month-old Nadira Alifa Putri and Nadiba Aisyah Putri were born by caesarean as two of triplets, but their sister wasn’t conjoined.

The sisters, born on January 21 at the Tanjungpinang Regional General Hospital in Indonesia, now need to put on weight before surgery to separate them can go ahead.

Dad, Juarnes Prana Dinata, 30, said: “The doctors were shocked at birth when they realised it was a triplet and a conjoined twin as well.

“I am glad that all the babies are healthy but I am really looking forward to the separation of the conjoined babies. It is really difficult for me and my wife to see them like that.”

The twins are conjoined at the skull but have their own brains, giving the parents hope that they can be successfully separated.

Mum, Siti Nuryaningsih, also 30, said: “Both of them have completely different personalities. They are too young to make decisions but they know what they want to do in that moment. So we think attempting a separation surgery is a step that needs to be taken.

"When one sleeps the other one wants to play so their sense of doing things is really messed up. We are really looking forward to their separation.”

image

Conjoined: Mum Siti Nuryaningsih giving her twins their milk (Caters)

The twins have been referred to the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta, where doctors have asked the parents to wait until the babies reach an optimal weight.

The hospital will not be able to perform a separation surgery until the babies reach at least 10 kilograms, which their parents hope will be within the next six-eight months.

Conjoined twins occur about once in every 200,000 live births and their survival is “anything but assured”, according to the University of Maryland Medical Centre.

It claims 40 to 60 per cent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and tragically about 35 per cent only survive for a single day.