A pair of conjoined twins from Big Bend in Swaziland underwent a successful six-hour separation operation at Netcare Unitas Hospital in Centurion‚ Gauteng‚ on Saturday.
The twin girls‚ Uwenzile and Uyihlelile Shilongonyane‚ who together weighed 4.21 kilograms at birth‚ were born joined at the abdomen on January 2 to 19-year-old Bongekile Simelane and her husband Mbongeni Sihlongonyane.
Speaking ahead of the procedure‚ paediatric surgeons Dr Mariza de Villiers and Dr Paul Stevens agreed that the twins had a good prognosis. “This type of conjoined twins are known as omphalopagus twins‚ which means they were joined at the lower abdomen and do not share a heart‚” they noted.
“Pre-operative assessments indicated that the babies also did not share any other vital organs. This considerably improved their chances of surviving the surgical separation and will also contribute greatly to them leading healthy lives going forward‚” said De Villiers.
The Shilongonyane girls are the second set of conjoined twins that the two doctors have separated‚ and are the first to have their separation surgery done at Netcare Unitas Hospital. The paediatric surgeons were assisted by Dr Francisca Van Der Schyff and Dr Kagiso Batka.
De Villiers said that the twins were joined only by a bridge of skin‚ which made the operation simpler than if they shared vital organs. “There are always considerable risks when separating conjoined twins‚ but we have been cautiously optimistic all along that the operation would have a good outcome for both twins‚” she observed.
“The fact that there was a skin bridge between them‚ meant that there was sufficient skin to close the resultant surgical wound on each baby without the need for plastic surgery.”
Uwenzile and Uyihlelile were born by caesarean section. Bongkile and Mbongeni are also parents to twin boys aged two. According to Bongkile until the seventh month of her pregnancy she had no idea that she was about to give birth to a second set of twins. “At first I was not happy to hear that I was expecting twins for the second time‚” she recalls.
“However‚ once they were born everything changed. After their birth I was at first not worried as I thought the babies were only attached at the umbilical cord.”
Conjoined twins separated at Centurion hospital
A pair of conjoined twins from Big Bend in Swaziland underwent a successful six-hour separation operation at Netcare Unitas Hospital in Centurion‚ Gauteng‚ on Saturday.
The twin girls‚ Uwenzile and Uyihlelile Shilongonyane‚ who together weighed 4.21 kilograms at birth‚ were born joined at the abdomen on January 2 to 19-year-old Bongekile Simelane and her husband Mbongeni Sihlongonyane.
Speaking ahead of the procedure‚ paediatric surgeons Dr Mariza de Villiers and Dr Paul Stevens agreed that the twins had a good prognosis. “This type of conjoined twins are known as omphalopagus twins‚ which means they were joined at the lower abdomen and do not share a heart‚” they noted.
“Pre-operative assessments indicated that the babies also did not share any other vital organs. This considerably improved their chances of surviving the surgical separation and will also contribute greatly to them leading healthy lives going forward‚” said De Villiers.
The Shilongonyane girls are the second set of conjoined twins that the two doctors have separated‚ and are the first to have their separation surgery done at Netcare Unitas Hospital. The paediatric surgeons were assisted by Dr Francisca Van Der Schyff and Dr Kagiso Batka.
De Villiers said that the twins were joined only by a bridge of skin‚ which made the operation simpler than if they shared vital organs. “There are always considerable risks when separating conjoined twins‚ but we have been cautiously optimistic all along that the operation would have a good outcome for both twins‚” she observed.
“The fact that there was a skin bridge between them‚ meant that there was sufficient skin to close the resultant surgical wound on each baby without the need for plastic surgery.”
Uwenzile and Uyihlelile were born by caesarean section. Bongkile and Mbongeni are also parents to twin boys aged two. According to Bongkile until the seventh month of her pregnancy she had no idea that she was about to give birth to a second set of twins. “At first I was not happy to hear that I was expecting twins for the second time‚” she recalls.
“However‚ once they were born everything changed. After their birth I was at first not worried as I thought the babies were only attached at the umbilical cord.”
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