Video: Conjoined Twins Separated In California

(MNT) Conjoined twins born in August 2009 in the Philippines were surgically separated yesterday at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, located in Stanford University campus, Palo Alto, California. The girls were born joined at the abdomen and chest. It took over six hours to separate the sisters, plus another three hours of reconstruction.

The sisters were born as thoraco-omphalopagus twins; this means they were joined at the abdomen, chest, and their livers, diaphragms, abdominal walls and breastbones were fused. They both had separate brains, kidneys, intestines, stomachs and hearts.

According to a communiqué in the hospital's website, this is the culmination of several months of complex planning involving health care professionals from virtually every corner of the hospital.

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