It was almost impossible to separate them, but God and the doctors and nurses at UC Davis made it possible,” mother Liliya Miroshnik said of...
It was almost impossible to separate them, but God and the doctors and nurses at UC Davis made it possible,” mother Liliya Miroshnik said of her daughters Abigail and Micaela.
Two baby girls who were joined at the head have been successfully separated in what medical professionals are calling a "landmark surgery."
According to a press release from UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento, the medical team successfully conducted the 24-hour surgery on sisters Abigail and Micaela Bachinskiy over the weekend, specifically on Saturday and Sunday.
The 9-month-old twins, who were born joined at the head, an extremely rare condition known as craniopagus twins, are now recovering as their parents, Liliya Miroshnik and Anatoliy Bachinskiy, are counting their blessings, the hospital said.
“This is a historic surgery for us at UC Davis Children's Hospital,” said Dr. Michael Edwards, chief pediatric neurosurgeon. “Abigail and Micaela are well and recovering in our pediatric intensive care unit thanks to an incredible team effort dedicated to ensuring these very rare twins have the best chance at a healthy life ahead.”
Their mother Miroshnik, 33, added: "Everything went well. It seemed almost impossible to separate them, but God and the doctors and nurses at UC Davis made it possible. We are so grateful."
The UC Davis Medical Center medical team with Abigail and Micaela Bachinskiy
Abigail is Micaela Bachinskiy with her mother Liliya Miroshnik
According to the hospital, Miroshnik discovered that her daughters were joined at the head when she was 11 weeks pregnant.
At the time, Miroshnik, already a mother of three boys, had trouble comprehending the news but found comfort in her husband, who reassured her that everything would work out, NBC affiliate KCRA reported.
"It was very difficult. I was shocked. I couldn't process," Miroshnik recalled to the broadcaster. "When I got home, my husband told me that everything would be fine. We will get through this. These are our children. We already love them."
The North Highlands mom was referred by her doctor to the UC Davis Fetal Care and Treatment Center, where she began receiving extensive prenatal care, learning more about her daughters' condition and preparing for their arrival, according to the hospital.
UC Davis said their medical teams also prepared for the twins' delivery by practicing early simulations and scenarios in anticipation of the "numerous possible risks" the girls might face.
On December 30, Abigail and Micaela entered the world. After birth, the twins were admitted to the hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and spent seven weeks there before going home, the news release said.
It wasn't until Abigail and Micaela were 9 months old that doctors at UC Davis felt the need to bring the girls back and separate their heads.
"As they grow, there are more risks of shared blood vessels and organs becoming larger or more intertwined. Also, flu season, COVID-19 and RSV were approaching, and that was a concern," explained Dr. Granger Wong , the leading plastic surgeon, underlining the urgency in the press release.
“This is a very, very rare anomaly,” Dr. Edwards added to KCRA. “There are very few births of twins with this anomaly in any one year worldwide, and of these, only a much smaller subgroup is anatomy fortunate enough to allow a separation attempt, with the hope of resulting in two healthy babies.” .
Once again, medical teams spent months preparing for the procedure, this time printing 3D models of the twins' fused skulls for training and using mixed reality glasses to look inside the girls' skulls beforehand and determine which blood vessels needed be diverted and separated, the hospital said.
Dr. Wong's team also placed "custom-designed tissue expanders under the skin of the girls' heads" in June, in the hope that they would encourage skin growth and help cover the exposed area of their skulls after surgery , the press release stated.
When October finally arrived, the medical team, made up of more than 30 surgeons, nurses, anesthetists and other key surgical personnel, was ready to get started.
Under the guidance of Edwards, Wong, director of pediatric anesthesiology Rajvinder Dhamrait and pediatric surgical center nurse manager Aida Benitez, the twins' surgery went smoothly, thanks to the large group wearing different colors to designate roles , according to the hospital.
The extensive procedure included separating the twins' veins and brain matter, removing tissue expanders and reconstructing their skulls/scalp, changing the girls' positions on the operating table five times and giving them blood transfusions, L 'UC Davis.
“It was like a choreographed ballet,” Wong recalled in the press release.
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