TANZANIAN CONJOINED TWINS SUCCESSFULLY SEPARATED AT TAIL END OF THEIR SPINES AT APOLLO HOSPITA,L CHENNAI, INDIA

Ericana and Eluidi with their Mother Grace 

Mwakyusa before separation surgery

The conjoined Tanzanian twin boys, Ericana and Eluidi Mwakyusa, who were referred to Apollo Children Hospital in Chennai, India for surgery by Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Tanzania on June, 2013, now sleep in separate hospital beds in the Pediatric Critical Care Unit of Apollo Hospital’s Vanagaram facility after successful major separation surgery which was done on 16th December, 2013.

They are able to do so after nine months, thanks to the efforts of 20 surgeons and an equal number of hospital staffs of Apollo hospital Chennai who made this happened.

These types of Conjoined twins, though rarely encountered, are seen in one in 200,000 deliveries. However, more than 60% of them are stillborn while 35% of the remaining die within a few days or months of birth due to various causes. Conjoined twins can be joined at the chest, abdomen, back, buttock and head. Fusion at the buttocks (Pygopagus) is very rare and accounts for less than 17% of all conjoined twins.

 Live born Pygopagus twins are usually female in sex while male pygopagus twins are extremely rare. Till now in medical literature, only 30 sets of Pygopagus twins have been reported out of which 26 were female and only four were male.

 The nine-month-old pygopagus twins boy (conjoined at the end of the spine), were born at Kasumulu in Kyela, Mbeya Region. The twins’ spines were fused at the base, and they shared a single anus and rectum.

The twins were referred to Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam, which in turn sought help from the Government through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW), which then  the MOHSW, referred the twins to Apollo Children’s hospital in Chennai India for further evaluation and management.

For more CLICK HERE