#BreakingNews African Twin Girls Joined at the Skull Successfully Separated at Vatican Hospital by 30 Doctors

Twin girls, who were conjoined, from the Central African Republic were successfully separated at a hospital in the Vatican City.

Ervina and Prefina, aged 2, were joined at the skull before an operation that lasted 18 hours and involved 30 doctors and nurses, according to a press release from the Bambino Gesù (Child Jesus) Pediatric Hospital published Tuesday.

The separation took place on June 5 and the girls, who are from the Central African Republic, are expected to make a full recovery.

This is the first time that doctors in Italy have successfully separated conjoined twins in total posterior craniopagus, which means they shared a skull and a majority of blood vessels.

Twin girls, joined at the skull, successfully separated in 18-hour operation in Vatican hospital
Doctors carried out two procedures before a third one separated the twins.

There are no other cases of a successful intervention described in medical literature anywhere else in the world.

The team said this is "one of the rarest and most complex forms of fusion," and they prepared for the intervention for more than a year.

Hospital president Mariella Enoc met the twins on a trip to Central African Republic in July 2018 and offered to treat them in Rome.

The twins arrived in Italy in September 2018 with their mother, Ermine, and the first stage of their treatment was carried out in May 2019.

Twin girls, joined at the skull, successfully separated in 18-hour operation in Vatican hospital
The girls shared a skull and a majority of blood vessels.

A second stage took place in June 2019, and they were finally separated last month.

"It was an exciting moment, a fantastic, unrepeatable experience," said Carlo Marras, head of neurosurgery at the hospital.

The twins celebrated their second birthday on June 29 and medical checks show that they are doing well.
Edited from Nwitimes.com and CNN