The twins Arthur and Bernardo spent almost four years in close proximity: their bodies were connected at the head. In Brazil, a team of 100 doctors managed their separation in a marathon of nine surgeries, the last of which lasted 23 hours.
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IIn a series of surgeries, doctors in Brazil have successfully separated conjoined twins joined at the head. “It was the most difficult, most complex and most challenging operation of my career,” said neurosurgeon Gabriel Mufarrej from the IECPN Brain Center in Rio de Janeiro about the separation of three-year-old twins Arthur and Bernardo Lima. “Initially, no one thought it was possible. Rescuing both was a historic achievement.”
The siblings from the northern Brazilian state of Roraima, who were born in 2018 and will soon be four years old, were so-called craniopagus twins. That means they were bandaged at the head, that’s very rare. Separating them required a total of nine surgeries, the last of which lasted 23 hours. The medical team had nearly 100 members. The procedure was complicated by the fact that the twins shared important brain vessels.