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NEW YORK CITY, NY (October 20, 2003) – Surgeons at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) today said everything went “absolutely smoothly” as they successfully completed the first of up to four surgeries designed ultimately to separate 18-month-old conjoined twins, Clarence and Carl Aguirre.
“The first part of the separation began today with a craniotomy, essentially removing a small section of the skull and exposing the upper surface of each boys’ head,” said James T. Goodrich, MD, Director, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, CHAM, and team leader.
“We were mainly looking at crossover between the blood vessels,” said Goodrich. “We did not find much and that’s a very good sign. The preoperative planning was very good, and there were no surprises.”
After the bone was put back in place and secured with tiny titanium plates and screws, David Staffenberg, MD, Chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, CHAM, placed two tissue expanders under the boys’ scalp.
“We put the expanders in positions where Carl and Clarence can still lay comfortably on their backs when we begin to expand and stretch the skin in preparation for the next stages,” Staffenberg said. “Everything went absolutely smoothly.”
The tissue expanders – small pouches that slowly will be filled with saline – will gradually stretch the skin and encourage new skin growth. The expanded skin eventually will be used to reconstruct the scalp in each twin after the final separation surgery. Today’s procedure is the first in a series of planned surgeries in a very complex process.
"The twins are doing great,” said Goodrich. "Everything went according to plan, and we expect Carl and Clarence will be able to resume their physical therapy at Blythedale after a few more days here at CHAM."
The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore has agreed to take this extremely difficult and high-risk case on a pro-bono basis. Montefiore Medical Center's elite staff of highly-specialized and skilled practitioners, its state-of-the-art Children’s Hospital facility, its technically advanced imaging, diagnostic, treatment, and its healthcare management systems makes it one of the few facilities in the world that can provide the commitment, talent, care and expertise a surgical procedure of this magnitude requires.
Goodrich said the timing of the next in the series of three to four surgeries depends on how quickly Carl and Clarence recover from today’s procedure. The next surgery will most likely take place in three to four weeks.
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