A multidisciplinary medical team at the King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) will perform surgery on a set of Yemeni conjoined twins on Saturday to separate them.
According to an official source from the KAMC, doctors found that the success rate of the surgery would be 60 to 70 percent due to congenital defects in the twins.
During preliminary tests, the medical team discovered that the twins, Abdullah and Abdulrahman, shared organs such as the intestines and the anal and pelvic areas.
Doctors confirmed that one twin suffers from a deficiency in the brain and has a congenital heart defect, which is life-threatening, while the second twin has a normal brain.
The operation will take place in nine phases and the final separation surgery may take approximately 12 1/2 hours.
Hospital authorities thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muqrin, deputy premier, and National Guard Minister Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, for the support and encouragement given to the KAMC to performing such surgeries
Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons who are experts in separating conjoined twins and have treated during the past twenty years more than 65 cases from 17 countries. Of these 30 have been successful. The remaining cases were not fit for separation owing to health reasons.
Besides the Kingdom, the cases came from countries such as Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.
