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New York City, NY (February 20, 2004) --The first surgical incision on conjoined twins Carl and Clarence Aguirre was made at 9:50 a.m. this morning at The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM), marking the beginning of the third and riskiest operation to date on the Filipino boys. A team of 16 highly-specialized medical professionals -- including pediatric neurosurgeons, pediatric plastic surgeons, pediatric anesthesiologists as well as pediatric nurse specialists and technicians -- are in the operating room for the complex procedure planned to tie-off one of the two remaining major shared veins, and to divide other veins shared at the back of the boys’ heads.
Despite the extreme risks involved in attempting the surgical separation of her sons, Arlene Aguirre, the boys' mother, believes “this surgery is necessary for my boys to lead a normal life. It is their only chance.”
The boys arrived at Montefiore Thursday evening and spent a quiet night in the pediatric critical care unit. Their mother was by their bedside, keeping watch over them with the nursing team. This morning, Carl and Clarence went into the operating room at 7:23 a.m. “Both were smiling, happy and giving high-five’s and their usual chorus of ‘bye-bye’ and ‘hello’,” said David Staffenberg, MD. “They were very interactive with their mother and the medical team.”
Today’s procedure is expected to be a lengthy one, lasting at least ten hours. Surgeons will first open the boys skull, a procedure called a craniotomy, and then determine which veins will be tied off. Prior to cutting the veins, surgeons will use clamps on the major vein to determine the extent of any swelling of the brain or other adverse reactions.
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