COLOMBIA: Doctors in Bogota, Colombia prepare to separate conjoined twins Sofia and Mariana Rodriguez

Doctors in Bogota, Colombia will attempt to separate conjoined twins Sofia and Mariana Rodriguez on Tuesday (January 16). The twins, born in Medellin on September 19, are connected at the head, a circumstance that makes the upcoming surgery risky. To tackle the task, organizers have united a group of 60 medical professionals that include neurosurgeons from different parts of the world. According to officials working on the project, the team counts on top experts in the field who have worked on similar cases in other parts of the world. Brain surgeon Tito Perilla from the University of Antioquia said the goal was not only to separate the twins, but keep them both alive and avoid any neurological damage. Perilla said that although the twins' brains are touching, they both have independently formed brains. "The complexity of the surgery is very high because (the twins) share neurological integrity. The brains are barely touching and they are together but each one has a separate brain," Dr. Perilla said from the clinic in Bogota. The twins were taken to Bogota so the group of doctors and surgeons could do preliminary studies and get to know the two. The birth weight of the children was 7.7 pounds each and they needed to exceed 13 pounds in order to go forward with the operation. The collective weight of the children is now nearly 29 pounds. Perilla explained that the condition is rare. "In the world, we could say that one in every four million is born with this case. There have been only 39 surgeries, so this will be the fortieth," Perilla said. Of the 39 similar surgeries, in only one case have both of the conjoined twins survived and surviving children often suffer from mental deficits. In nearly 50 percent of the operations both of the twins have died. In the case of the Rodriguez twins where the two share important parts of the nervous system, doctors have designed special implements to separate and support the heads with minimal damage. During the surgery, the team will be in contact with doctors from John Hopkins University and the University of Juarez, in Mexico, an institution that sent expert Dr. Antonio Carmona to Bogota to assist in the operation. Julian Rodriguez, father of the twins, said his family moved was encouraged to go through with the surgery after speaking with doctors. Rodriguez told journalists he nervous about the surgery, but has faith in the ability of the doctors. "(We are) nervous. We are positive too, but we know that it is a high risk operation and anything can happen. But I repeat what I said before and that is that the group knows how to do things," Rodriguez said. In order to perform the surgery, the Rodriguez family asked for financial help and moved to Bogota in October where they will stay at least six months after the operation.

ITN Source | January 16, 2007

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