Twins recovering, in stable but critical condition after separation

Aug 10, 2006, 0:35 GMT

Salt Lake City, Utah - The 4-year-old twin sisters Kendra and Maliyah Herrin were recovering under heavy sedation Wednesday after being separated in a 25-hour-long marathon operation.

Doctors at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, said the sisters, once joined at mid-torso, would have to remain in intensive care for at least another week. Their condition was reported as stable, but critical.

'We are the proud parents of two separate little girls,' mother Erin Herrin told US broacast network ABC on Wednesday. 'I am so grateful to be their mother.'

Surgeons had worked all Monday to separate the girls' liver, intestines, pelvis, sternum and the sac around their heart. They were officially separated just before midnight Monday, and doctors completed reconstructive surgery in separate operating theatres through Tuesday morning.

The operation was billed as the first attempt to separate twins sharing a kidney. The girls' medical team had decided ahead of time that Kendra would keep the kidney, while Maliyah would go on dialysis until she was strong enough to receive a transplant from her mother.

Rebecka Meyers, chief paediatric surgeon at the hospital, said the dialysis had worked so far and Maliyah was in stable condition.

Each girl got one of their shared legs.

Conjoined twins occur about once in every 50,000 to 100,000 birthsm and only about 20 per cent survive to become viable candidates for separation. Twins usually undergo separation surgery at six to 12 months old, but the Herrins' shared kidney forced doctors to wait longer.