New York City, NY (October 21, 2003) - Carl and Clarence Aguirre, 18-month-old conjoined twins from the Philippines, are in "good condition" today at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) and continue to recover nicely from the first of several surgical procedures in their planned separation process.

According to Dr. David Staffenberg, Chief, Pediatric Plastic Surgery, CHAM, "the twins are alert and playing with their mother and the nursing staff." The specialized team at CHAM is closely monitoring their progress.

During the first procedure, performed yesterday, a team of twenty specialists supported the efforts of pediatric neurosurgeons and craniofacial plastic surgeons to remove a portion of the twins’ skull so they could evaluate the network of shared blood vessels and the degree of fusion between the boys. Surgeons then inserted one tissue expander into each of the boys’ scalps to help stretch their skin and encourage new growth. This will ensure that there is enough skin available to completely cover the boys’ scalps after their final separation.

"We will begin to gradually fill the expanders in about three weeks so that we give the skin closure from yesterday’s surgery time to heal," said Dr. Staffenberg. "After that, we will add saline every three to five days depending on how well Carl and Clarence tolerate the procedures."

"We want to see Carl and Clarence gain some more weight and make further advances in their physical therapy while they are healing," Dr. Staffenberg said.

Surgeons will perform a series of procedures over the course of the next few months to gradually divide their blood vessels in advance of a final separation procedure.

© 2012 Montefiore Medical Center