COLOMBIA: Colombian doctors announce the death of both conjoined twins following separation surgery

Conjoined twins die after separation surgery. Colombian doctors announced on Wednesday (January 17) that twins who had been joined at the head both died following separation surgery. A team of 62 people participated in the delicate fourteen-hour operation on Tuesday (January 16). Sofia Rodriguez died shortly after the surgery due to caridac arrest the doctors reported earlier on Wednesday. Her sister Mariana survived but was in critical condition. Doctors announced her death early in the afternoon. "It is a very complicated surgery. Of 39 attempts at this kind of surgery remember that only one time did both survive and that fifty percent of the time, one died. That is to say, unfortunately this was expected. The family knew this and we all knew that this could occur," explained pediatrician, Dr. Oscar Ovalle. The operation began on Tuesday. Doctors got through 70 percent of the surgery when they had to stop due to complications. The first twin died and the team completely the operation, hoping to save the second twin. Their father Julian Rodriguez said the situation was beyond the doctors' control. "I know that they [the doctors] did everything they could, but they couldn't [save the twins] - things of my God," he said. The four-month old twins were born in Colombia's second-largest city of Medellin (located some 220 kilometres northwest of Bogota). After several weeks of study and preparation, a medical team made up of 62 specialists began the separation operation on Tuesday. Perilla said the main difficulty facing the team was constant bleeding of the children who were joined at the head by vascular structures in the brain.

ITN Source | January 18, 2007

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