Conjoined twins Jaga Kalia stable after first phase surgery at AIIMS

Bhubaneswar/New Delhi: After successful completion of first phase separation surgery of the conjoined Craniopagus twins Jaga and Kalia at the Neurosciences Centre of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, the duo has been taken out of ventilator and shifted to ICU, AIIMS officials said.

Operation team leader Pediatric Neurosurgeon Prof Deepak Gupta informed that the phase one surgical operation constituting venous bypass surgery to separate their shared veins has been successfully done. However, their heads are still joined.

Many of the interior parts of the brain have been separated and a new venous bypass channel has been created inside them, informed Gupta.

“The twins will require one to two more operations within three months for final separation and will be kept under our observation till then,” Gupta said, adding, Craniopagus is a very rare condition wherein twins are joined at the head and have a high risk during surgical operation.

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Chief of Neurosciences Centre Prof Ashok Mahapatra said there was no blood loss or intra-operative problems during the operation and that the kids are in stable condition.

“Almost 60% of the first phase operation is complete. The twins can have food after 2-3 days. The second phase of the multistage surgical operation would be held after one or two months depending on the condition of the duo,” stated Mahapatra.

The phase one surgery began early morning on August 28 and finished at 6.30 am on August 29 lasting over 24 hours.  A team of 40 surgeons including experts from Japan were involved in the surgery.

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The twins are 27-months-old and problems of their survival were increasing as they were growing older.

Born to Bhuan Kanhar and Puspanjali Kanhar of Milipada in Kandhamal district, the plight of the twins was highlighted after OTV first broke the news about them a couple of months ago.