Conjoined Brazilian children joined at the head were separated in a procedure that medical officials described on Monday as the most complex surgery of its kind, for which they prepared using virtual reality.
Arthur and Bernardo Lima were born in 2018 in the state of Roraima, in northern Brazil, as twins. craniopagusan extremely rare condition in which siblings are fused together in the skull.
Joined on top of their heads for almost four years, most of which was spent in a Rio de Janeiro hospital equipped with a custom-made bed, the brothers can now look at each other’s faces for the first time, after nine operations. culminating in a 23-hour marathon surgery.
Brazilian conjoined twins joined at the head have been successfully separated
The London-based medical charity Gemini Untwined, which helped carry out the procedure, described it as “the separation more challenging and complex to date,” since the children shared several vital veins.
“The twins had the most severe and difficult version of the condition, with the highest risk of death for both,” said neurosurgeon Gabriel Mufarrej, of the Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute (IECPN) in Rio, where the procedure was performed.
For Mufarrej, it was the “most difficult surgery of (his) career,” he told AFP.
“We are very pleased with the result, because no one else believed in this surgery at first, but we always believed there was a chance,” Mufarrej added in a statement.
Members of the medical team, which included almost 100 professionalsthey prepared for the delicate final stages of surgery on June 7 and 9 with the help of virtual reality, Gemini Untwined told.
Using brain scans to create a digital map of the children’s shared skull, surgeons trained together in Rio and London with trial surgery performed in virtual reality.
British neurosurgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani, lead surgeon for Gemini Untwined, called the virtual reality prep session “space-age stuff.”
Brazilian conjoined twins joined at the head have been successfully separated
“It’s just wonderful, it’s great to see the anatomy and do the surgery before putting the children at risk,” he told Britain’s PA news agency.
“You can imagine how reassuring that is for surgeons… Doing it in virtual reality was really a man on Mars thing,” Jeelani added.
Pictures and videos released by medical staff showed the boys lying side by side in a hospital bed after surgery, with little Arthur reaching out to touch his brother’s hand.
Through tears, the children’s mother, Adriely Lima, described the family’s relief. “We have been living in the hospital for almost four years,” she said.
The children are still recovering and may need more procedures as they get older, doctors said.