Conjoined Twins Are Surgically Separated At Texas Children's Hospital
Would Elysse Mata have realized a dream for her twin girls? Her wish is simple: "I want them to have a shot at having a normal life. I'm looking forward of just going home and dressing them in tutus and bows and pink and purple and ribbon and I'm just excited," according to abc13.com.
Elysse may not have realized her dream, for her twins were conjoined.
Yet, she has probably realized it. Her daughers got successfully separated through a surgery by a team of doctors at Texas Children's Hospital, according to khou.com. The girls are resting after a complicated operation.
Elysse Mata was told on January 13, 2014, when she was in her 19th week of pregnancy already. It was a shock.
Not too long after that---that is, only 12 weeks later on April 11, Mata gave birth to Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata---conjoined twin girls joined at the chest and abdomen.
A surgery to separate them was performed on February 17 at Texas Children's Hospital. Having been joined for 10 months, the team of doctors separated them during a 26-hour operation on February 17.
The complicated surgery for 18 hours had to be performed on the chest wall, lungs, pericardial sac, as well as the lining of the heart, diaphragm, liver, intestines, colon and pelvis, finally separating the twins. After that, Knatalye had to be given attention for 23 hours while Adeline had to be operated for 26 hours.
"This surgery was not without its challenges with the girls sharing several organ systems. Our team has been preparing for this surgery for months, and we've done everything from working with our radiology experts to build a 3-D model of their organs, to conducting simulations of the actual separation surgery," said Dr. Darrell Cass, pediatric surgeon and co-director of Texas Children's Fetal Center.
Specialty doctors who were experts in pediatric surgery, plastic surgery, cardiovascular surgery, urology, liver transplant surgery, orthopedic surgery and pediatric gynecology helped to perform the surgery.
While they are on their way to recovery, Knatalye and Adeline will be supervised by a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit even as they recover. Doctors agreed that they will experience more surgeries in the future, although medicos are not really clear about a possible release date.
"We are so grateful to all the surgeons and everyone who cared for our daughters and gave them the incredible chance to live separate lives," Mata said. "We know how much planning and time went into this surgery and we are so blessed to be at a place like Texas Children's where we have access to the surgeons and caretakers that have made this dream a reality."
