Chinese doctors separate conjoined twins - Xinhua

BEIJING, July 23 (Reuters) Chinese doctors have separated four-month old conjoined twin baby girls in an operation lasting nearly 12 hours, Xinhua news agency said today.

The girls, born prematurely without breastbones, spent their first four months with livers, hearts and a large area of their breast and abdomen connected, Li Yanmin, director of the paediatric department at the First Hospital of Hebei Medical University in Shijiazhuang, was quoted as saying.

During the operation yesterday, doctors separated the twins' livers, repositioned their hearts and rebuilt their breastbones.

Both were in a relatively stable condition, but they still had to survive the crucial and dangerous 72 hours after the operation, Li was cited as saying.

Doctors had waited to operate until the girls' joint weight reached 7.5 kg (16 and a half lb). They were born with congenital heart disease and together weighed only 4.3 kg.

Last week, doctors in southwest China separated a pair of newborn twin girls. One has since died of heart and lung failure.

REUTERS CS PM0629