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Summary Two-year-old twin girls who are joined at the chest will be separated through surgery.
Two-year-old twin girls who are joined at the chest and abdomen were undergoing final preparations for a complex surgery at a California hospital that is meant to separate them.Doctors at Stanford Universitys Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital are planning a nine-hour procedure Tuesday that, if successful, will allow Angelica and Angelina Sabuco to live independently from each other.The girls were born in the Philippines and live in California with their family.Pediatric surgeon Gary Hartman, who has performed five similar procedures, said he expected the twins to survive and do well. The operation will involve more than 20 physicians and nurses from various specialties, and it culminates several months of planning.I want them to live normally, like other children, Ginady Sabuco, the girls mother, said in a statement from the hospital.The girls have done well so far. They love listening to stories and music, and they know their colors and can count to 10. They celebrated their second birthdays with cakes adorned with Disney princesses and Tinker Bell.But remaining conjoined carries risks for the girls health, especially if they share organs unequally. If one conjoined twin dies, the other will die within hours.The girls livers, diaphragms, breast bones, chest and abdominal wall muscles are fused. They have separate hearts, brains, kidneys, stomachs and intestines.The occurrence of conjoined twins is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births worldwide, and the overall survival rate is approximately 25 percent, according to the hospital.The girls are expected to be hospitalized for nearly two weeks.
