A <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf-news/saudi-arabia/" target="_blank">Saudi </a>medical team has separated <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf-news/2023/07/06/conjoined-syrian-twins-arrive-in-riyadh-for-separation-surgery/" target="_blank">conjoined Syrian twins</a> during a seven-hour operation. The surgery was carried out at the King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh on Thursday. The brothers,<a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf-news/2023/05/23/syrian-conjoined-twins-arrive-in-riyadh-for-separation-surgery/" target="_blank"> Bassam and Ihsan,</a> were said to be in a stable condition. The five-stage operation involved a 26-member team comprising consultants, specialists and technical, nursing and support staff. Dr Abdullah Al Rabiah, the head of the medical team and general supervisor of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, expressed his happiness over the success of the operation, which was performed as part of the Saudi programme for conjoined twins. Dr Al Rabiah led the operation, which was held under the directives of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The twins, who are two years and seven months old and weigh a combined 19kg, were joined at the lower chest area and shared an abdomen, liver and intestines. Ihsan was more dominant while Bassam did not have kidneys, a urethra, a bladder and reproductive organs. Dr Al Rabiah said that the operation had to be done to save Bassam’s life, due to Ihsan's congenital heart defects that could reduce his life expectancy. “The existence of conjoined organs that are important and sensitive makes a twin separation operation difficult. The existence of congenital defects in some organs such as the heart, urinary system or the reproductive system and, at times, in the brain, makes the operation complex,” he said. “Therefore, the difficulty lies in how the twins are conjoined and to what degree exactly.” Dr Al Rabiah said congenital defects generally added to the degree of complexity, with only a few medical centres in the world able to handle this. After the procedure, the twins were transferred to a children’s intensive care ward, where they will remain under supervision. The operation is the 58th within the Saudi programme for conjoined twins, which has handled 130 cases from 23 countries since 1990, he said. The twins and their parents were flown from the Turkish capital, Ankara, to Saudi Arabia on May 22.
