Siamese Twin Sister Survives Separation SurgeryThe youngest of the Chinese Siamese twins, born on May 28, survived separation surgery on Monday, but the eldest twin died about eight hours after the operation.Doctors said the surviving twin is still in an unstable condition and is receiving special care. The twin infant girls were born in the city of Rui'an, in east China's Zhejiang Province. The twins were born attached at the abdomen, sharing a colon and with abnormal urogenital and excretory systems. They were admitted into Zhejiang Provincial Children's Hospital in June. Statistics indicate that the survival rate for Siamese twins is less than 10 percent. To increase the likelihood of success of surgery, doctors didn't perform the operation until the girls grew to a weight of 7.2 kg. The surgery, which started at 9:50, lasted approximately four hours. Yet the elder girl died of blood circulation failure at about 22:00 despite all emergency measures. Doctors said the main cause of death was that she could not adapt to her new independent circulatory system. |
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