Select a Program at Montefiore Medical Center CLINICAL SERVICES • Allergy and Immunology • Centers of Excellence • Chemical Dependency Program • Clinical Diabetes Center • Cough Center • Critical Care Medicine • Dentistry • Dermatology • Emergency Medicine • Endocrinology • Family and Social Medicine • Gastroenterology • Geriatrics • Headache Center • Hematology • Hyperbaric Medicine • In It Together Fund • Infectious Diseases • Kidney Transplant Program • Montefiore Home Care • Montefiore Institute for Reproductive Medicine • Montefiore Medical Group • Montefiore Medical Specialists • Montefiore-Einstein Liver Center • Nephrology • Neurology • Neuromuscular Disease • Nuclear Medicine • Pathology • Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences • Pulmonary Medicine • Radiology • Rehabilitation Medicine • Rheumatology • Sleep-Wake Disorders Center • Substance Abuse Treatment Program • Urgent Care Services • Urology MONTEFIORE-EINSTEIN HEART CENTER • Cardiac Rehabilitation and Recovery • Cardiology • Cardiothoracic Surgery • Contact the Heart Center • Heart Center Video Gallery • Innovations & Insights MONTEFIORE-EINSTEIN CENTER FOR CANCER CARE • Breast Cancer • Clinical Trials • Colorectal Cancer • Gastrointestinal Oncology • Gynecologic Oncology • Head & Neck Cancer Program • Lung Cancer • Prevention and Support • Radiation Oncology • Robotic Prostate Surgery • Sarcoma and Connective Tissue Oncology Center • Surgical Departments at Montefiore • Surgical Oncology • Translational Research • Urological Oncology CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL AT MONTEFIORE WOMEN'S HEALTH AT MONTEFIORE • Childbirth • Family Planning & Birth Control • Fibroid Center • Genetic Counseling • Group Prenatal Care • High-Risk Pregnancy • Infertility - Reproductive Medicine • Menopause & Aging • Obstetrics & Gynecology • Preconceptual Counseling & Testing • Reproductive Genetics & Prenatal Genetic Testing • Urogynecology SURGICAL DEPARTMENTS AT MONTEFIORE • Breast Surgery • Montefiore Institute for Minimally Invasive Surgery • Neurological Surgery • Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences • Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery • Orthopaedic Surgery • Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery • Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery • Surgery • Transplant Center • Urologic Surgery • Vascular Disease Management • Weight Reduction (Bariatric) Surgery CLINICAL DEPARTMENTS AT MONTEFIORE PROFESSIONALS • Department of Anesthesiology • Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery • Department of Dentistry • Department of Emergency Medicine • Department of Family and Social Medicine • Department of Medicine • Department of Neurology • Department of Neurosurgery • Department of Nuclear Medicine • Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women's Health • Department of Oncology • Department of Ophthalmology • Department of Orthopaedic Surgery • Department of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) • Department of Pathology • Department of Pharmacy • Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences • Department of Radiation Oncology • Department of Radiology • Department of Rehabilitation Medicine • Department of Surgery • Department of Urology

NEW YORK CITY, NY (November 5, 2003) --  Carl and Clarence Aguirre, 18-month-old conjoined twins from the Philippines, remain in good condition today following a 45-minute surgical procedure performed at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) on Monday. Doctors say the series of staged surgeries, designed ultimately to separate the boys who were born joined at the tops of their heads, will proceed as planned. In the 45-minute procedure Monday, surgeons at CHAM temporarily removed two soft-tissue expanders from under the twins' scalps after Carl and Clarence developed mild infections.

"The infections were not unusual, and plans for the second stage of the separation procedure are underway," said David Staffenberg, MD, Chief of Pediatric Plastic Surgery, The Children's Hospital at Montefiore. Staffenberg, who performed the surgery Monday, is co-leader with James T. Goodrich, MD, Director, Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, CHAM, of the extensive, highly specialized medical team at CHAM that is treating the twins.

Tissue expanders - small pouches that are slowly filled with saline - are used to gradually stretch skin and encourage new skin growth. The new skin eventually will be used to reconstruct the scalp of each twin after the final separation surgery.

"There are no signs of fever or infection," said Robert Marion, MD, CHAM, who is the boys’ pediatrician. "Carl and Clarence are receiving antibiotics, which is the normal course for any patients who have undergone this type of procedure."

The boys and their mother returned to Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY, a few hours after the surgery Monday where they are continuing their physical and nutrition therapy to further strengthen them for the series of surgeries to come.