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New York City, NY (December 15, 2004) - Formerly conjoined Filipino twins Carl and Clarence Aguirre underwent the first in a series of operations today that will ultimately see their skulls completely reconstructed.  "In today's surgery, we grafted skin from the boys' thighs to cover bald patches on their scalps," said David Staffenberg, MD, chief of pediatric plastic surgery at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM).  "The graft on Carl, who went into the OR first, took about 45 minutes," Dr. Staffenberg said.  "Clarence had a larger area to cover and it took about an hour and ten minutes to complete," he said.  "Everything went perfectly, and just as we had planned."

While the boys were sleeping under a general anesthetic, Dr. Staffenberg gave each of the boys a good shampooing.  "There was no medical reason for the shampooings," he said. "It's just something that is very difficult to do when they're awake.  They don't like it and give us a hard time just like most two-and-a-half-year olds," he said.Before each boy's skin grafts were sutured into place, they underwent complete medical assessments by various CHAM specialists.  CHAM's Pediatric Ear, Nose and Throat Director Sanjay Parikh, MD, conducted an endoscopy of their respective airways to see if obstructions were interfearing with their breathing, resulting in restless nights and repeated colds.  Director of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Anthony Loizides, MD, checked each of the boys' GI tracts to examine potential causes of their gastric reflux.

The specialists are meeting with the boys' entire medical team later today to discuss treatment options and plans for next steps in Carl and Clarence's medical journey.