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Doctors in Bangladesh are gearing up to separate the fused heads of 19-month-old twins in an arduous surgery.
Doctors at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) are hopeful about a successful surgery on the twins joined at their heads.
Taslima Khatun, teacher of a government school in the northern district of Pabna, gave birth to the conjoined twins -- Rabeya and Rokeya in July last year. The twins were admitted to the DMCH’s Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit since February 21, following which a 21-member medical board was formed. On Tuesday, they went through a three-hour angiogram, allowing the doctors to get a clear understanding of the blood vessels, reports bdnews24.com.
“This is the initial step,” said Samanta Lal Sen, chief coordinator of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit.
He told the news agency that if everything appears to be all right, then they would block blood vessels of one of the twins on Wednesday, to observe whether the body mechanism can create new vessels.
After the twins were born on July 16, 2016, they were under treatment by Professor Ruhul Amin at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, said Rafiqul, father of the babies, adding it was tough for him to afford the cost.
“Local MP advised us to approach Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She then instructed the Dhaka Medical College Hospital,” he said.
In November last year, the twins were brought to the DMCH, and Abul Kalam, head of Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit, took charge of their treatment.
They were released then and readmitted last week, said Dr Sen adding Prime Minister Hasina is bearing all the expenses.
He said when the sisters were first brought to the DMCH, a 19-member team was formed and was later expanded with two Hungarian neurosurgeons.
“As far as I know, there have been 17 successful surgeries on twins with fused heads in the world. Only five twins survived.”
Last year, the DMCH for the first time in the history successfully separated 10-month-old sisters -- Tofa and Tahura conjoined along their spinal columns.