AIIMS Hospital separated the twins through a complicated and risky surgery. Riddhi and Siddhi, residents of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, were born on July 7 last year. They were born with the chest and upper abdomen attached to each other. This is the third time since 2020 that the Department of Pediatric Surgery at AIIMS has performed this type of surgery. Dr Minu Vajpayee, professor of pediatrics surgery, said the major organs that the twins had to separate included the liver, the lining of the heart, ribs, diaphragm and parts of the upper abdomen.
According to hospital sources, Riddhi and Siddhi were operated on when they were only 11 months old. Although the surgery lasts nine hours long, it takes about 12 and a half hours for pre- and post-surgery anesthesia all together. In the initial step of the surgery, the abdomen and chest were separated. Liver tissue was sectioned such that there was enough tissue for each child, and fused rib cages were also separated. The diaphragm and pericardium are also separated in this surgery. Both children are now doing well.
Their parents, Ankur and Deepika Gupta, are breathing a sigh of relief after the successful surgery. Deepika Gupta, mother of two children, said the girls are fine now. Deepika thanked God and doctors for giving our girls a new life. The two little ones celebrated their first birthdays at the hospital after the surgery, doctors said. Earlier in 2017, doctors at the institute had successfully separated the craniopagus twins named Jagannath and Balaram from Odisha, i.e. those whose foreheads are conjoined.
