Conjoined twins separated with help of virtual reality in Brazil

Conjoined twins separated with help of virtual reality in Brazil

Brazilian conjoined twins Bernardo (L) and Arthur with their parents Adriely (L, back) and Antonio Lima, in Brazil: the twins were born with a single, shared brain have been separated in a complex surgery that doctors prepared for with the help of virtual reality.
Brazilian conjoined twins Bernardo (L) and Arthur with their parents Adriely (L, back) and Antonio Lima, in Brazil: the twins were born with a single, shared brain have been separated in a complex surgery that doctors prepared for with the help of virtual reality.. Photo: Arthur PEREIRA / Fitamarela/AFP
Source: AFP

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Conjoined twins born in Brazil with a fused head and brain have been separated in what doctors described Monday as the most complex surgery of its kind, which they prepared for using virtual reality.

Arthur and Bernardo Lima were born in 2018 in the state of Roraima in northern Brazil as craniopagus twins, an extremely rare condition in which the siblings are fused at the cranium.

Joined at the top of the head for nearly four years -- most of that spent in a Rio de Janeiro hospital outfitted with a custom bed -- the brothers are now able to look each other in the face for the first time, after a series of nine operations culminating in a marathon 27-hour surgery to separate them.

The conjoined twins were separated with help of virtual reality practise session in what experts described as the most complicated operation of its kind to date
The conjoined twins were separated with help of virtual reality practise session in what experts described as the most complicated operation of its kind to date. Photo: Handout/Gemini Untwined charity/Instituto Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer / AFP
Source: AFP

London-based medical charity Gemini Untwined, which helped carry out the procedure, described it as the "most challenging and complex separation to date," given that the boys shared several vital veins.

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"The twins had the most serious and difficult version of the condition, with the highest risk of death for both," said neurosurgeon Gabriel Mufarrej of the Paulo Niemeyer State Brain Institute (IECPN) in Rio, where the procedure was performed.

"We're very satisfied with the outcome, because no one else believed in this surgery at first, but we always believed there was a chance," he said in a statement.

Members of the medical team, which included nearly 100 staff, prepared for the delicate final stages of the surgery on June 7 and 9 with the help of virtual reality, said Gemini Untwined.

Using brain scans to create a digital map of the boys' shared cranium, surgeons practiced for the procedure in a trans-Atlantic virtual-reality trial surgery.

British neurosurgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani, the lead surgeon for Gemini Untwined, called the virtual reality prep session "space-age stuff."

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"It's just wonderful, it's really great to see the anatomy and do the surgery before you actually put the children at any risk," he told British news agency PA.

"You can imagine how reassuring that is for the surgeons... To do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff."

Conjoined twins Bernardo and Arthur Lima got to look each other face to face for the first time after their operation in the Instituto Estadual do Cerebro Paulo Niemeyer (IECPN) hospital in Rio de Janeiro
Conjoined twins Bernardo and Arthur Lima got to look each other face to face for the first time after their operation in the Instituto Estadual do Cerebro Paulo Niemeyer (IECPN) hospital in Rio de Janeiro. Photo: Handout/Gemini Untwined charity/Instituto Estadual do Cérebro Paulo Niemeyer / AFP
Source: AFP

Pictures and videos released by medical staff showed the boys lying side-by-side on a hospital bed post-surgery, little Arthur reaching out to touch his brother's hand.

In tears, the boys' mother, Adriely Lima, described the family's relief.

"We've been living in the hospital for nearly four years," she said.

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Source: AFP

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