Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth says they’ve successfully separated a set of conjoined twins and will discuss the procedure in a live news conference Wednesday morning.
The separation surgery, described by the hospital as “rare” and “groundbreaking,” was the first for the Fort Worth-based children’s hospital.
The medical team plans to share their insights into the procedure and discuss what it took to separate the two girls, Jamie Lynn and Amy Lynn, during a news conference Wednesday morning.
“The team comprises dozens of medical experts from across multiple specialties. They collaborated on this procedure, leveraging the team’s expertise in treating the most difficult and complex pediatric conditions,” the hospital said.
Bishop TD Jakes, who spoke before the news conference, called for prayers for the children on Sunday afternoon ahead of Monday’s surgery.
Expected to speak at the news conference will be Dr. Jose Iglesias, medical director and lead surgeon; Dr. Marty Knott, pediatric surgeon; Dr. Chad Barber, neonatologist; Dr. Mary Frances Lynch, neonatologist; Dr. Chandra Reynolds, anesthesiologist; Dr. Valeria Gibbs, director of perioperative services; Dr. Ben Gbulie, plastic surgeon; Rick W. Merrill, president & CEO, Cook Children’s Health Care System; Stan Davis, president, Cook Children’s Medical Center.
This story will be updated at the conclusion of the news conference.
Cook Children’s said it’s estimated that conjoined twins occur in 1-in-200,000 live births and that only five to eight conjoined twins worldwide survive the first few days after birth.
This is at least the third set of conjoined twins separated in North Texas children’s hospitals.
In October 2003, two 1-year-old Egyptian boys, Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim were conjoined at the head and were separated during a 34-hour surgery at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. The boys eventually returned to Egypt but periodically returned to North Texas for subsequent procedures and checkups.
Ten years later, in August 2013, Owen and Emmett Ezell, born conjoined on July 17 and connected from the chest to the belly button, shared a liver and intestines. The boys underwent a successful 6-hour separation surgery at Medical City Children’s Hospital in Dallas.
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