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Brazilian doctors under the direction of an English neurosurgeon have successfully separated three-year-old conjoined twins after using virtual reality to train for months for the surgery. Bernardo and Arthur Lima are conjoined twins who were born with their brains fused together. During a series of surgeries in Rio de Janeiro recently, a team of nearly 100 medical professionals led by London-based neurosurgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani and Brazilian pediatric surgeon Dr Gabriel Mufarrej, the twins were successfully separated.
The Lima boys were born as craniopagus twins, which means they have fused skulls, intertwined brains and shared blood vessels. The separation process was one of the most complex ever completed and involved seven procedures, the last two of which totaled 33 hours. The final surgery took nearly 27 hours, during which Jeelani only had four 15-minute breaks for food and water. Previous unsuccessful attempts at surgically separating the twins created scar tissue that made the operations even more challenging. The twins were the oldest craniopagus twins to have ever been separated.
One thing that made the procedure possible was that the medical teams had the chance to practice for months from their respective homes around the world via virtual reality. It was the first time in history that doctors were able to train like this, something Jeelani describes as “space-age stuff.” After the surgery, as is common with conjoined twins after separation, their heart rates were "through the roof," until they were reunited and were able to hold hands.
Source: People