Siamese Twins Undergo 3rd Surgery To Separate Skulls In Brazil

Brazilian Siamese twins, Allana and Mariah, born joined at the head, are undergoing their third surgery to separate their skulls at the Hospital das Clínicas (HC) in Ribeirão Preto.

The surgery is expected to take place on March 11, 2023, and involves a team of 40 medical professionals, led by neurosurgeon Hélio Rubens Machado.

The procedure is expected to be longer than the second surgery and aims to separate three-quarters of the connection between the patients.

The twins were born on December 9, 2020, in Ribeirão Preto, but live with their family in Piquerobi, Sao Paulo.

Their condition was diagnosed while they were still in their mother’s womb.

Since 2021, they have been monitored at HC, where they underwent their first neurosurgery in August of that year, followed by a second procedure three months later.

The last surgery, which took place in November 2022, lasted nine hours and involved the sectioning of veins in the brain that connect the two girls.

The procedure had marked the halfway point of the separation process.

According to Machado, four surgeries were planned to complete the total separation of the twins. In the first surgery, a quarter was separated, and in the second, they reached half.

The upcoming surgery aims to separate three-quarters of the connection between the patients.

The medical team will use advanced technologies, such as virtual reality and a neuronavigator, to guide the surgery.

The twins will be taken to the operating room at 6:30 am and undergo anesthesia before the procedure starts at around 7:30 am. The surgery is expected to be completed by around 5 pm.

The medical team hopes that the surgery will go as planned and that the twins will be successfully separated.

The parents of the twins, who live in anticipation of their daughters’ final separation, are described as “warriors.”

The case of the twins is extremely rare, and their successful separation would be a major medical breakthrough.

The medical team plans to perform two more surgeries: a fourth neurosurgery in June 2023, and a same-day cranioplasty also in June 2023.

The team is also studying the use of stem cells to improve cranioplasty.

The HC of Ribeirão Preto is no stranger to complex surgical cases. In 2018, the hospital successfully separated another pair of twins, Maria Ysabelle and Maria Ysadora, who were born joined at the heads.

The twins faced five unprecedented surgical procedures in Brazil until they were finally separated in October 2018.

The medical team, led by neurosurgeon Machado and plastic surgeon Jayme Farina, is now working on the successful separation of Allana and Mariah.