HOUSTON – Conjoined twins are finally going home after the pair was safely separated during a complex surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital in June.
Ella Grace and Eliza Faith Fuller were in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for over four months after their birth on March 1.
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A large team of healthcare workers took six hours to complete the surgery on June 14. Seven surgeons, four anesthesiologists, four surgical nurses and two surgical technicians assisted with the procedure.
The girls were conjoined at their abdomen and shared liver tissues.
Dr. Alice King, a Pediatric Surgeon at Texas Children’s Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, oversaw the team. The procedure included pediatric surgery and plastic surgery.
“Our team began planning and preparing for this operation before these babies were even born,” King said. “From conducting simulations of the procedure, to collaborating extensively with our colleagues in anesthesiology, maternal-fetal medicine, neonatology and radiology, we have all been working together to achieve one common goal: the best outcome for Ella and Eliza.”
Sandy and Jesse Fuller are the twins’ parents. The babies were born at 35 weeks through Caesarean section and weighed 5 pounds and 10 ounces each.
Sandy discovered she was having conjoined twin girls when she had an ultrasound in her second trimester. She had several tests, so doctors could conclude whether they could separate the girls after birth.
“As one of the select few hospitals in the nation that specializes in the treatment and separation of conjoined twins, this excellent outcome is a testament to our enormously talented and dedicated teams,” said Dr. Larry Hollier, Surgeon-In-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital. “Because of their expertise, extensive planning and seamless collaboration, the procedure went much quicker than anticipated, which led us all to our unified goal — sending two healthy babies home to join their family.”
A big team led by maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. Roopali Donepudi also helped deliver the twins in March.
“Conjoined twin pregnancies are incredibly rare and very high-risk, so it’s important that an expectant mother receive care from a highly-skilled maternal-fetal medicine team,” Donepudi said. “The prenatal testing and imaging that Sandy underwent at Texas Children’s Fetal Center was incredibly thorough and informed not only the labor and delivery team to ensure that mom and babies had the best birth outcome, but also allowed our neonatal and surgery colleagues to begin planning for the twins’ care while still in utero.”