One half of Siamese twin sisters recovers from heart surgery

The eldest of two conjoined twin girls that a Shanghai hospital performed a separation operation on in late March has recovered from a procedure for her complex congenital heart disease and was discharged from hospital on Wednesday.

According to Shen Chun, the director of neonatal surgery at the Children's Hospital of Fudan University, the younger girl had recovered well from the separation operation performed on March 24, 36 days after birth, and was discharged after two weeks.

However, the elder girl suffered from insufficient blood perfusion, which led to aggravated hypoxia, and her blood oxygen saturation reached as low as 60 percent.

On April 2, a team led by Jia Bing, director of the hospital's cardiovascular center, performed a surgery for the infant, building an artificial blood vessel from the subclavian artery and connecting it with the pulmonary artery so as to ensure the supply of pulmonary blood flow. The infant's blood oxygen saturation reached 94 percent immediately after the surgery.

"The infant was taken off the ventilator seven days after the surgery and has been in good health," said Jia, adding that the child may need a radical surgery when she is about 1 year old, after which her heart and lung functions would be no different from other children.

This was the first time the hospital performed a surgery for complex congenital heart disease on Siamese twins, said Zhai Xiaowen, vice president of the hospital.

"The success of the surgery has shown that we're not only pioneers in the field of congenital heart disease within the country, but also internationally," said Zhai.