They are the oldest twins ever to have their brains successfully separated. It took 7 operations and nearly 100 medics!
Bernardo and Arthur Lima are 3-year-old twin brothers who have captured the world's attention. Their situation was tremendously difficult, because they were conjoined twins, born connected at the head (craniopagus) with a fused brain. However, thanks to scientific advances in favor of human life, these children were successfully separated this past June in Rio de Janeiro. The successful operation was only reported at the beginning of August, because “the teams of doctors held off publicizing it so they could focus on the boys’ recovery,” according to the Washington Post.
Seven operations were required to separate the craniopagus twins, involving nearly 100 medical professionals. The final operation lasted 27 hours, led by Great Ormond Street Hospital (London) pediatric surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani.
Record age
The operation was a success, and set a new record: Bernardo and Arthur, at 3 years old (almost 4), are the oldest craniopagus twins in the world to have their brains successfully separated.
It’s worth highlighting the values that have moved so many medical professionals to get involved in such a great challenge.
Dr. Jeelani, to begin with, is a highly regarded neurosurgeon who in 2018 founded a charity to be able to address the problems of conjoined twins and the economic difficulties that often come with this type of operation. The organization is called Gemini Untwined and it was this charity that underwrote the cost of the operation of Bernardo and Arthur from Brazil.
Among the images that have been released, there is one in which several members of the staff who operated on the conjoined twins can be seen holding hands together. It was truly a team effort, and a challenge to face together an operation of such extreme complexity. Those joined hands are also a sign of the human family asking God for protection to advance in the care of life.
Practicing with virtual reality
To achieve this success, it was necessary for a team of surgeons from London and Rio de Janeiro to test new techniques for months. CT scans and MRI scans were used to create models of the children’s heads, and the medical team employed virtual reality to practice.
This allowed the team to test the methods and techniques ahead of time, reducing the risks for the patients, which obviously was a concern for all those involved in this operation.
The British Evening Standard reports that Dr. Jeelani told PA news agency, “It’s just wonderful, it’s really great to see the anatomy and do the surgery before you actually put the children at any risk. You can imagine how reassuring that is for the surgeons. In some ways these operations are considered the hardest of our time, and to do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff.”
Once the 27-hour operation on the conjoined twins was successfully finished, Dr. Jeelani confessed that he was physically “absolutely shattered." Evening Standard reports that he only took 4 breaks of 15 minutes to eat and drink water, but he says it was all worth it. He said it was "wonderful" to see the family overwhelmed with relief and happiness.
Helping other twins
The success of the operation shows the value of Dr. Jeelani’s organization Gemini Untwined.
“The idea behind the charity was to create a global health service for super-rare cases to try and improve results for these kids,” he told the Evening Standard, adding that his organization has become a "global repository for knowledge and experience" of separation surgery. He proposes it as a model for providing health care for other rare conditions worldwide.
This is the sixth conjoined twin separation operation Dr. Jeelani has performed with Gemini Untwined. Previous ones include operations performed in Pakistan, Sudan, Israel and Turkey.
