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| 2-year-old conjoined twin girls are separated successfully |
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 Two-year-old Angelica and Angelina Sabuco love Dora the Explorer, Elmo, and listening to stories and music. They also know their colors and can count to 10. But one important distinction kept them from being typical toddlers – they were conjoined twins. But on Tuesday, an operation was planned to give them a chance to be able to live independently from each other for the first time. The surgery took place at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in Northern California, reported KNTV's Marianne Favro. The sisters wer joined at their chest and abdomens, according to the hospital. Their livers, diaphragms, sterni (breast bones), chest and abdominal wall muscles were fused. They had separate hearts, brains, kidneys, stomachs and intestines. Dividing the girls' single liver was "probably the greatest risk of the procedure," said Dr. Gary Hartman, the lead surgeon. "About a quarter of our blood goes through our liver every single minute." More than 40 people were in the operating room during the surgery to separate the girls, who were born in the Philippines and live in San Jose with their parents and 10-year-old brother. Hartman has performed five surgeries to separate conjoined twins -- more than any other surgeon in the United States. He expects the twins to survive and do well, reports the Associated Press. The children were being kept sedated and doctors said they could be awakened as early as Wednesday. They were expected to be in the hospital for at least two weeks. (Source: msnbc& new.yahoo)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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