A set of conjoined twins were successfully separated after a major operation at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town.
Siphosethu and Amahle were born in the Eastern Cape and taken to the Western Cape’s Red Cross Children’s Hospital at only 4 days old.
Professor Tony Figaji, head of pediatric neurosurgery at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital said that the twins were joined at the head in what is medically referred to as craniopagus twinning.
Prof Figaji explained that its the rarest form of conjoined twinning.
Craniopagus twins occur approximately once in every 2.5 million live births worldwide.
“We were fortunate in this case that the connection did not involve any shared brain tissue and didn’t involve major [blood] vessels going from one twin to the other,” said Prof Figaji.
The surgery lasted one and a half hours.
“I am overjoyed! I wasn’t expecting to leave here holding my children one in each arm,” said Ntombikayise Tyhalisi (31), the mother of the twins following successful surgery.