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Conjoined Twins May Undergo Surgery Soon

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Feb 26, 2006 3:10 pm US/Central

Conjoined Twins May Undergo Surgery Soon

Fargo, N.D. (AP) ― Conjoined twins Abby and Belle Carlsen may undergo surgery next week at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to prepare for separation.

The family met with a team of doctors at the hospital on Friday, said Jesse Carlsen, the girls' father.

"This place gets 15 out of 10 stars," he said. "We're moving forward."

Doctors conducted ultrasounds and CAT scans on the girls. The 3-month-old girls are joined from mid-chest to navel.

Early studies showed they are joined at the breastbone, liver and part of their intestines, but they have separate hearts and other vital organs.

Results from Friday's tests show the twins' livers will be more easily separated than first thought, Carlsen said.

"Everything we know right now sounds good," he said.

The twins will undergo more testing this week.

Abby and Belle could undergo surgery by March 6 to prepare for their separation, Carlsen said.

Then doctors will place expanders beneath the skin where the girls are joined. Skin expanders are silicone balloons that are gradually inflated or filled with saline solution to distend the skin. That skin is used to cover wounds from surgery.

The separation surgery could follow within three weeks.

Jesse and Amy Carlsen expected to have the separation surgery at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota in Minneapolis. They were waiting for results from tests done in early February when they decided to seek a second opinion last week.

Abby and Belle were born Nov. 29 by at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.

No one knows how much the surgery to separate the girls will cost.

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According to the Mayo Clinic, conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring once in every 200,000 births.

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