Doctors in Switzerland successfully separated 8-day-old conjoined twin sisters, making them the youngest ever conjoined twins to be separated, according to Al Arabiya English. Five surgeons, two nurses and six anaesthesiologists separated the baby girls, who were attached at the liver and chest, during a five-hour operation.
Although twins Maya and Lydia were initially stable, leading doctors to consider letting them stay conjoined for a few months before attempting an operation, their health deteriorated dramatically after just one week, with one suffering from hypertension and the other from hypotension, the opposite condition.
With both conditions life-threatening for the twins, who weighed just 2.4 pounds each, the only chance was to perform the surgery, the first of its kind on such young infants.
"We were prepared for the death of both babies, it was so extreme," said Barbara Wildhaber of the Geneva University Hospital, who participated in the procedure that carried just a 1 percent chance of success, according to BBC News.
After the surgery succeeded, the team was surprised, happy and relieved.
"It was magnificent! I will remember it my entire career," said Wildhaber.
Following their separation, the girls underwent additional surgical procedures in order to close their abdominal walls. They are now doing well in recovery at a pediatric intensive care ward.
"The perfect teamwork of physicians and nursing personnel from various disciplines were the key to success here. We are very happy that the children and parents are faring so well now," said Steffen Berger, head of pediatric surgery.
The girls were born two months prematurely back in December along with their triplet sister Kamilla, according to Inside Edition.
