Hospital officials announced this week that two Nigerian girls who spent the first 15 months of their lives with fused skulls now have independent lives after undergoing a highly complex surgery in Abu Dhabi.

This surgery was performed at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City about two years ago, but details have only now been made public.

The treatment process included four surgeries over six months, with more than 60 doctors, surgeons, and specialists from various countries participating.

Mercy and Goodness were born with fused skulls as well as shared brain tissue and blood vessels.

This rare condition, known as Craniopagus Twinning, is considered one of the most challenging challenges in pediatric neurosurgery.

In this type of twinning, the infants' heads are connected, and they usually share parts of their blood vessels and brain structures.

After the final stage of surgery, the two sisters were able to sit facing each other for the first time and see each other's faces up close.

Medical teams from the UAE, the UK, Brazil, and Nigeria collaborated on this project.

Before the surgery, doctors used advanced technologies such as:

Advanced medical imaging

Virtual Reality-based planning

3D Printing

to accurately identify and map the shared body structures of the two children.

According to the medical team, after the successful separation of the twins, the skulls of both children were reconstructed using custom titanium implants made with 3D printing technology.

Craniopagus twins are among the rarest types of conjoined twins in the world and constitute only a very small fraction of conjoined twin cases.

Since these children often have shared blood vessels and brain structures, their separation surgery can require months or even years of planning and preparation and is always associated with very serious risks.

Source: Gulf Times