Conjoined Twin Girls Separated At Texas Hospital

A hospital in Texas recently did the first-ever surgery to separate conjoined twins. The surgery was a success.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, Jan. 25, the Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth announced a team of doctors performed an 11-hour separation surgery on AmieLynn Rose and JamieLynn Rae Finley, who were three months and 20 days at the time of their surgery.

The surgery was done on Monday, January 23, and 25 doctors were involved, according to the children’s hospital.

Conjoined Twin Girls Separated At Texas Hospital
Conjoined Twin Girls Separated At Texas Hospital

The Cook Children’s Medical Center says that AmieLynn and JamieLynn are making progress toward getting better.

The Cook Children’s Medical Center was asked for comment by Fox News Digital.

According to a press release from the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, AmieLynn and JamieLynn were born early on October 3, 2022.

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At 34 weeks, the twin girls were born and were said to weigh 4 pounds and 7.8 ounces. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine say that full-term pregnancies last between 37 and 42 weeks.

“The separation surgery [has given] AmieLynn and JamieLynn better opportunities to improve their health and development, and to grow as the unique, individual little girls that they have been since birth, regardless of their physical connection as conjoined twins,” Dr. Jose L. Iglesias, medical director of pediatric surgery at Cook Children’s Medical Center, said in a statement.

AmieLynn and JamieLynn were omphalopagus twins, which means that their stomachs were joined and they shared one or more organs.

The sisters “were joined from the lower part of the breastbone to their bellybutton” and they reportedly shared a liver, according to Cook Children’s Medical Center’s press release.

Iglesias was the main surgeon for AmieLynn and JamieLynn. He worked with the rest of the Cook Children’s Medical Center team to do body scans, anatomy models, surgery maps, simulations, preparations for the operating room, and practise runs of the surgical choreography.

Conjoined Twin Girls Separated At Texas Hospital

On the day of surgery, three anesthesiologists, four pediatric surgeons, two plastic surgeons, and 18 other medical professionals took care of the twin girls.

AmieLynn Rose and JamieLynn Rae Finley were joined at the hip. After an 11-hour surgery, a team of 25 doctors and nurses at the Cook Children’s Medical Center separated them.

Before they could have surgery, the doctors who cared for AmieLynn and JamieLynn worked to improve the girls’ health, growth, and development. This included focusing on nutrition and ensuring their brain, heart, lungs, and other important organs worked properly.

“At this stage in AmieLynn and JamieLynn’s growth and development, this was the right time for them to have the surgery,” Dr. Mary Frances Lynch, a neonatologist at Cook Children’s Medical Center, said in a statement.

“Separation now will benefit AmieLynn and JamieLynn by allowing them continue reaching important growth and development milestones in their individual health journeys,” Lynch continued.

A press release from Cook Children’s Medical Center says that the neonatology and NICU departments are taking care of AmieLynn and JamieLynn after their surgery.

Their parents, Amanda Arciniega and James Finley were present at Cook Children’s Medical Center on the surgery day and “patiently waited for news of their separation,” the hospital reported.