Conjoined twins separated in 16-hour-long surgery at Delhi’s AIIMS ready to return to Odisha

A team of 40 surgeons and specialists from a dozen medical disciplines had come together to perform the complex surgery. They were joined at the head, known as craniopagus conjoining, and had a chance of survival as low as 10 to 15%.

Almost two years after a pair of conjoined twins was separated in a challenging, 16-hour surgery at New Delhi’s All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), they are ready to return to Odisha.

This was the first time a hospital in India separated a pair of craniopagus twins. So far, only 59 such surgeries have taken place worldwide, according to AIIMS. (HT File Photo)

The twins, Jagannath (Jagga) and Balram (Balia), will be taken to Cuttack by train in the first week of September, and receive further medical assistance at the Cuttack Medical College.

The twins, now over four years old, have been living in a room in the private ward of AIIMS along with their parents. The parents are poor farmers from Kandhamal district of Odisha.

“We haven’t gone back home since the time we came here before the surgery. Once we return to Cuttack, we might be able to as Cuttack is about 200 kms from home,” said Pushpanjali Kanhar, the mother of the twins.

As preparations are being made for the journey, Balia, who still has a feeding tube in the stomach, sleeps peacefully on a bed in the centre of the room. Jagga, who is very active and can talk, runs around the room and plays with a red truck that is his current favourite toy. The room also has a small teddy bear hanging on a saline stand for Balia.

A team of 40 surgeons and specialists from a dozen medical disciplines had come together to perform the complex surgery. They were joined at the head, known as craniopagus conjoining, and had a chance of survival as low as 10 to 15%.

This was the first time a hospital in India separated a pair of craniopagus twins. So far, only 59 such surgeries have taken place worldwide, according to AIIMS.

Separation surgeries for two other sets of craniophagus twins – Vani and Veena from Hyderabad and Saba and Farah from Patna – have been planned in the past in India, but the attempts were abandoned because the risks were too high.

The challenging part of Jagga and Balia’s surgery was that the doctors had to separate the fused part of the brains.

The twins were conjoined at a 180 degree angle and a significant portion of their brain was overlapping – 30% and 70% -- and had to be separated.

With both the twins surviving and on road to smooth recovery, the AIIMS doctors are calling the surgery a success.

“Jagga is now like any other normal child. Balia is also doing well; he is breathing and feeding on his own. He also spontaneously opens his eyes and makes eye contact. He just needs rehabilitative care now. We expect that in the next five to six years his condition will improve. This was somewhat expected as he did not have any independent brain circulation. Usually children like this die, but we managed to save both twins,” said Dr Deepak Gupta, professor of neurosurgery at AIIMS.