Doctors separate conjoined twins

Slovak doctors have successfully separated twins joined at the chest in what was only the second operation of its kind in the country, an official said today.

The five-month-old twin boys were separated during almost a 20-hour operation that was successfully concluded today, said Daniel Zitnan, the head of Bratislava’s Children University Hospital.

Zitnan said that the two, named Marek and Misko, were in stable condition but it was too soon to say what their chances for recovery were. He said the most difficult task for the doctors was to separate the liver and the gall bladder that the baby boys shared.

The operation was necessary for their survival, Zitnan said.

“I do thank the doctors and nurses from my heart,” the boys’ mother, Marianna Muellerova, was quoted as saying on Sme daily’s website today. “I have an enormous admiration for them.”

Zitnan said it was the second surgery of this kind in Slovakia. In 2000, doctors successfully separated two baby girls who are now doing well, he said.