Fijian conjoined twins’ surgery takes 34 professionals over half a day to complete

Doctors have successfully separated Fijian conjoined twins after a complex operation lasting 12 hours and 45 minutes in Saudi Arabia.

Sisters Dicecea and Jesepeli Kikau were born joined at the lower abdomen and pelvis with a rare condition called omphalo-ischiopagus tetrapus, ABC News reported.

The 13-month-old girls had separate hearts and lungs but shared parts of their liver, bowel, urinary tract and anal canal, which were separated on October 15 at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh.

A team of 34 medical professionals worked across nine stages to separate the girls, according to the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre.

During the operation, surgical lead Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah said things had progressed better than expected despite its complexity.

“The two girls are doing well so far,” he told ABC News three hours into the procedure.

Al Rabeeah later said surgeons successfully separated the liver and bowel without major bleeding and the twins remained stable.

After more than twelve hours of surgery, the surgical team began counting down to the moment of physical separation, with the operating theatre erupting in applause at the end.

The girls’ mother, Akeneta Vulimaiigiladi, said she was nervous when her daughters were taken into theatre but became more reassured while watching the surgery through a video link.

“We just kissed them goodbye and we wished our babies well,” she told ABC News.

Before the operation, Vulimaiigiladi and her husband, Watisoni, gave their daughters Arabic names to honour the country where they were being treated. Jesepeli and Dicecea were renamed Noorah and Sarah.

The family arrived in Riyadh in late July, with the twins undergoing months of assessments before surgery.

The family and Fiji’s Ministry of Health had approached other hospitals overseas and were quoted about US$1 million ($1.76m) for the procedure.

The operation in Saudi Arabia was performed at no cost to the family, with the Saudi Conjoined Twins Programme paying for the medical treatment, travel and accommodation.

It was the organisation’s 74th separation procedure since it was established in 1990 and its first involving twins from Fiji.

Dicecea and Jesepeli were born eight weeks prematurely and have a triplet sister, Hossana, and are Fiji’s second recorded case of conjoined twins in the past 50 years, according to the Fiji’s government.