Conjoined twins in China - level 3
Doctors have successfully separated conjoined twins at a hospital in southwest China. The twin sisters, who were separated on Friday ,were born on October 30th last year with abdominal skin joined from their chest to their navels.
They also had two connected livers.
The doctors operated on Tuesday for nearly five hours before separating them.
After months of intensive care by doctors and nurses in the hospital, the weight of the sisters increased to a combined weight of 9.9 kilograms and other vital signs were normal.
The twins now remain in the intensive care units to recover from the surgery.
The form of conjoint twinning refers to the point where the twins are connected.
An estimated 250 surgical separations have been performed worldwide, with most performed since 1950.
Conjoined twins are physically connected to one another at some point on their bodies. Being conjoined occurs once every 200,000 live births and about 70% are female.
Scientists believe that conjoined twins develop from a single fertilized egg that fails to separate completely as it divides.
Difficult words: separate (to divide into two), conjoined (connected), abdominal (relating to the abdomen – the belly), vital (important), estimated (roughly calculated), fertilized egg (egg that has male reproductive material; this egg can become a baby ), divide (to become bigger by creating more parts).