From Deseret News archives:

Conjoined twins separation surgery progress

Published: Saturday, Aug. 12, 2006 11:36 p.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 

Photo gallery


10:50 p.m.: Kendra and Maliyah are no longer conjoined. Doctors finished separating them earlier than expected, and at 11 p.m. moved the girls into separate operating rooms to complete the surgeries, which will still take several hours.

10 p.m.: Doctors have begun to separate the liver, which will bring them very close to being able to separate the twins completely. At that point, it will become two operations. So far, Kendra has needed a small amount of blood. Doctors are still holding to a target time of 4 a.m. to complete the surgery, but it could run shorter or longer, depending on how smoothly the remaining stages go.

Story continues below
7 p.m.: The girls' condition remains very stable, but doctors say the bladders are more complex than anticipated. The doctors have now finished examining and deciding how to divide up bladder tissue. There are two bladders, but each girl contributes one-half the blood supply, nerves and urine to each one. They have decided now how to assign the tissue, but will not form the bladders until after the girls are separated. Then a separate team will work on each girl.

4:30 p.m.: Urologists are now working on the girls' urinary tracts and bladders.

1:30 p.m.: So far, no surprises, according to Dr. Rebecka Meyers, coordinating surgeon and chief of pediatric surgery at Primary Children's Medical Center and University Hospital. The girls are stable and seven hours into the surgery, they have not had to give the girls any blood.

Surgeons have successfully divided the large intestine. Now they're working on other organs in the pelvis. Typically, conjoined twins who are joined at the abdomen or pelvis share some organs, lack some and may have extra of others. But the Herrins have asked that very personal details about Kendra and Maliyah's anatomy be kept private.

The surgery team is right on schedule and predicts the girls will be separated around midnight, at which time it will become two operations in adjacent rooms. They think they'll finish about 4 a.m.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Image

Jake and Erin Herrin speak to the media about the separation operation of their daughters, Kendra and Maliyah Monday.

previousnext

Latest comments

Wow. John Jones is dead in a cave, leaving a wife and one (soon to be two)...

Hall mouths off about hate of Utah

Wow! I have never heard such hatred ever come from a U. U. fan after a win!...

Hall mouths off about hate of Utah

As a BYU student and loyal fan, Max had every right in the world to say what...

Hall mouths off about hate of Utah

I am a BYU and Utah fan. However, I pull for Utah when these two teams meet....

Taking more money out of the economy and giving it to the government does...

Utes could end up in San Diego

Thanks! It's refreshing to see a Cougar fan that represents BYU well and...

The LDS church claims to have the whole truth and that men like Max Hall are...

.... until an LDS player on the Utah team throws the game due to his disgust...

Leno losing his audience to DVR

Finally is correct. Leno is losing his audience because he has abandonded...

Why are all of you Utah fans ragging on Max Hall for what you are doing right...

Advertisements