Two Central African conjoined twins joined together in Rome

Ervina and Prefina, two siamese sisters Central African 2 years who were born united by the skull, have been separated successfully through a complex operation in the Vatican’s « Bambino Gesù » Roman pediatric hospital.

The Mbaiki hospital was not prepared for a similar case and the sisters were referred to the center that Pope Francis ordered to equip in Bangui.

There they were met by the director of the « Bambino Gesù », Mariella Enoc, who decided to take them to Rome.

Then a team was created to study the case using three-dimensional technology to reconstruct the skull of the Siamese and solve the most complicated challenge: the separation not of the bone, but of the venous system that waters the area and that they shared.

The operation took place on June 5, lasted eighteen hours, and involved thirty doctors and health workers led by neurosurgeon Carlo Marras, the hospital reported today.

A month after this complicated intervention, the two sisters are fine and the hospital staff dedicated a birthday party for them and the mother on June 29.

Ervina and Prefina were born in 2018 in the south-western central African city of Mbaiki, near the capital, but to everyone’s surprise they were united by the skull, on the nape part.

We chose to proceed in three phases to rebuild two independent circulatory systems: the first intervention took place in May 2019, a month later the second operation was carried out and the final separation of the girls was last month.

The operation was successfully completed and, one month later, the venous system works properly.

The « Bambino Gesù » hospital, located at the foot of the Vatican walls, assured on social networks that the Siamese women presented « one of the rarest and most complex forms of fusion at the cranial and cerebral level ».