VietNamNet Bridge – A 20-strong surgical team will attempt to separate two-week-old conjoined twins a week ahead of schedule at the National Paediatrics Hospital, Ha Noi, today.

“This will be more difficult than the surgery for the other conjoined twins because the boys are weak, premature and light in weight.”

Both have a congenital heart malformation.

It will be the third operation of its type and hospital director Nguyen Thanh Liem said yesterday: “This will be more difficult than the surgery for the other conjoined twins because the boys are weak, premature and light in weight.”

The surgery had been brought forward in an effort to rescue Cu whose great arteries were transposed, he said.

“We will perform heart surgery on Cu in the near future.”

“The arteries in his brother’s heart are also very small and the infant sufferers from gastro intestinal obstruction.”

The director estimated the cost of the surgery and treatment at about VND300 million (US$18,200).

“The twin’s family is poor,” he said.

“We expect to provide the surgery free and then receive support from donors.”

Their father, Nguyen Van Loi, said ultrasound at Quynh Luu Hospital had shown that his wife, Dam Thi Chuyen, was pregnant with twins.

But their conjoining had not identified.

“My family lives from rice growing with an average monthly income of VND400,000,” he said.

“We are dependent on the doctors and donors.”

Both parents and their daughter, 9, are in sound health and the family has no history of hereditary disease.

National Paediatrics Hospital paediatricians previously successfully separated conjoined twins Nghia and Dan and Cuc and An.

More than 10 conjoined twins have undergone surgery in Viet Nam.

(Source: Viet Nam News)