Acen and Apio Akello of Uganda were joined at the pelvic and hip region until Thursday when they were successfully separated, according to Reuters.
The conjoined 11-month-old twin girls underwent a 16-hour operation at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, according to TIME.
“Because of the delicate job our neurosurgeons had of separating the spinal cord, our team was assisted by neurophysiologic intraoperative monitoring and the technicians were able to tell us which muscles and nerves belonged to Acen and which belonged to Apio,” Dr. Gail Besner, chief of Pediatric Surgery at the hospital, said.
“This is the first time this specific type of monitoring has been done in a conjoined twins’ separation surgery.”
Ohio hospital separates Ugandan conjoined twins http://t.co/4PXC2erRN0 pic.twitter.com/A76dalakWq
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) September 9, 2015
The sisters reportedly had surgery earlier in 2015 to prepare their skin for separation. The girls were reportedly flown to Nationwide’s Children’s Hospital back in December to begin the procedure to be separated. Acen and Apio will reportedly require one more surgery; however, the complicated and difficult procedure has been a success. “My hope is that they will be able to sit up on their own, walk and play like any other child," Besner said.
Conjoined #Ugandan twin girls separated in 16-hour Ohio surgery http://t.co/N7oD6jQzgW (Old Photo via #SisterHaiti) pic.twitter.com/IymcbU1c0L — Louis Jadwong (@Jadwong) September 8, 2015
