Bengaluru: A city hospital has performed a complex heart surgery on conjoined twins, hailing from Mauritius.
Narayana Health City took up this case and performed the world’s first PDA (Patent Ductus Arteriosus) stenting, as well as region’s first thoracopagus separation surgery to save the life of one of the babies, Cleanne Papillon.
The Mauritian health department had approached Narayana Health City after many hospitals in Europe and other Asian countries were not open to take up this case, as chances of survival were very slim.
Born to Mrs and Mr Ian Papillon, the babies were thoracopagus twins. Baby Cleanne Papillon was one of the conjoined twins who had a shared heart with her sister. In case of thoracopagus twins, the bodies are joined from the neck to the upper abdomen, however, in this case, their heart was also joined. Instead of four chambers for each, they together had seven.
As the children shared a heart and were not in a position to even breathe, they were supported by hand pumps for oxygen through the journey.
A team of doctors examined the babies as soon as they arrived. They were put on to the intensive care for stabilisation. Once they were stabilised, PDA stenting was performed to improve the condition of the heart.
Regarding PDA stenting Dr Shreesha Shankar Maiya, Consultant-Paediatric Cardiology and Electrophysiology, said, “Open surgery was not a choice in this case as the children were conjoined from the thorax region. Further, their heart was fused and the chambers were merged making their case a complex and unsuitable one for any surgical treatment. PDA stenting is an interventional procedure wherein a stent is placed in the PDA and the blood flow from the heart is maintained. The intervention was successful and they were oxygenated well.”
However doctors have advised separation surgery as staying together will affect both the lives. Among the twins, one of them had suffered non-correctable congenital anomalies.
In fact, the unhealthy child was becoming a burden on the healthy baby and hence the parents along with the doctors chose to support the healthy child.
“While the survival rates in conjoined twins are low, the survival ratio of Siamese twins with fused heart is even lower. The child is the ‘3rd Miracle Baby’ in the world who has survived a Thoracopagus separation surgery,” said Dr Ashley D’ Cruz, Director & Sr. Consultant Pediatric Surgeon & Urologist.
Expressing his gratitude, Papillon, the father of the patient, said, “When we got to know that we are expecting twins, we were excited. But after the delivery when we were informed that our daughters were conjoined and were sharing a single heart we were shattered. We thought we will lose both. Today, we have at least one of our daughters with us only because of the doctors at Narayana Health and I am extremely thankful to them for that. We are also grateful to our government for funding my children’s visit and their treatment.”
Baby Papillon has responded well to the intervention and is in a position to return to her homeland.
