The twins’ mother Nicole McDonald announced on Facebook the results of the operation early on Friday, but she assured that her 13-month-old babies might have a long way to go until they can live a normal life.
“There was a point where Dr Goodrich debated stopping the whole procedure because it was just too risky but an opening presented itself and they went for it and it ended up being the right call. The boys ended up sharing a 5 x 7 cm area of brain tissue with no definite plane for dissection,” posted Nicole McDonald on Facebook.
Separating conjoined twins
The procedure was carried out by Dr. James Goodrich, a pediatric surgeon at the Montefiore Medical Center who has already completed seven separation surgeries. Jadon and Anias’ case became the 59th cranial separation surgery performed to date.
Jadon was able to leave the operating room around 7 a.m., his head covered in medical wrapping. His parents and older brother Aza saw him and sent him off to pediatric intensive care.
The mother commented that her babies will remain intubated for at least a week, but that she would also set up a donation page so she can afford the clinical expenses. Nicole had worked as a pediatric physical therapist, but she had to quit so she could take care of her conjoined twins.
In contrast, Dr. Goodrich is renowned as one of the rare specialists in craniopagus twins’ separation. His inaugural procedure of this nature took place 12 years ago, and the separation of the McDonald twins would mark his seventh such surgery. Three decades ago, the prevailing expectation was that one of the twins would probably not survive or endure irreversible brain damage. However, due to the advancements in split-stage craniopagus surgery, both infants can now lead a life after the operation. The forthcoming surgery scheduled for Friday will conclude the fourth and final stage in the McDonalds’ case.
Dr. Goodrich explained that the babies shared at least an inch-and-a-half in diameter of brain tissue. He had a replica of the babies’ heads and showed that the tissue is readily able to be operated upon. Before the surgery, the boys’ heads were outlined with black markers to show how the previous stages had proceeded on the babies.
The main issue is that both babies share lots of blood vessels, which makes bleeding the primordial concern for surgeons, apart from brain damage.