Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital surgeons successfully separate conjoined twins

Formerly conjoined twins Angelica and Angelina Sabuco have been successfully separated, physicians at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital announced late this afternoon.

"I thank God for everything; words cannot express how the family feels for the successful separation of our twins, Angelica and Angelina," said mother Ginady Sabuco. "On behalf of my family, we thank Dr. Hartman and the team, all the nurses and the staff of Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and the media."

"We're very pleased," said lead surgeon Gary Hartman, MD, in a brief press conference in front of the hospital. "It could not have gone better."

The surgery took nearly 10 hours, slightly longer than anticipated. The riskiest portion of the separation procedure, dividing the girls' livers, went slowly but smoothly.

"There was really no blood loss during that part of the procedure," Hartman said.

The closure of the girls' separation sites went more smoothly than expected, he added.

"We were able to close the abdominal muscles without a graft, and the chest closure also went better than we anticipated," Hartman said.

"They will have a long scar from the middle of their chests down to the belly button, a straight line," said plastic surgeon Peter Lorenz, MD, who led the reconstruction procedures for the twins. "That's all that will show."

The surgery involved about 20 physicians and 15 to 20 operating room staff. Preparation for the procedure involved staff from nearly every department in the hospital.

The twins are now recovering in the pediatric intensive care unit. They will be sedated and on assisted ventilation throughout the night. If their condition is good, they may be awakened from sedation tomorrow and taken off of ventilators within the next few days. They are expected to stay in the pediatric intensive care unit for about a week, and in the hospital for about another week after that.

"They're very resilient," Hartman concluded. "The long-term prognosis is that we would expect a happy, healthy set of girls. We don't see any barriers to a complete recovery."