Conjoined twins medical team in Awards final

Conjoined twins medical team in NZ Health Innovation Awards final

23 July 2007

The medical team that separated conjoined twins in 2004 has earned a place in the finals of the 2007 New Zealand Health Innovation Awards (HIA).

Waikato Hospital paediatric surgeon Askar Kukkady led the multidisciplinary team of specialists from Waikato Hospital and Auckland hospitals. The successful separation of the girls was an Australasian first.

Twenty-two finalists are competing in the HIA, three of which are also from the Waikato region. The HIA, a joint endeavour of the Ministry of Health and ACC, were started in 2003 and recognises individuals and organisations that have developed new and innovative approaches to delivering better health services.

The extensive planning and use of an integrated multi-disciplinary team ensured the operation was successful and the twins recovered rapidly. The operations were photographed and video recorded to enable teams around the world to deal with a similar situation.

The incidence of conjoined twins is one in 200,000 live births. The girls born in Waikato were of a particularly rare type called pygopagus twins. Accounting for only 6 percent of conjoined twins, pygopagus siblings are joined at the lower back, spine and pelvis. There have been less than 30 reported cases of the separation of pygopagus twins worldwide with none in Australia or New Zealand.

The operation was planned over five months. An angiogram detailing the twins’ blood vessels was the first recorded angiogram carried out on conjoined pygopagus twins. A model of their fused spine was made based on 3-D images from CT scans. Two weeks before the operation the team practised the operation using a set of custom-made fused dolls. The separation was conducted in two stages, when the twins were three months and five months old, the major operation taking 22 hours with rostered teams working in relays.

Today the twins are leading healthy happy lives. .A number of valuable lessons have been learnt from this major effort. Bringing together a team consisting of over 50 personnel has also helped in managing other complex cases needing the input of several disciplines.

Further information about the HIA is available online at http://www.healthinnovationawards.co.nz

This year’s HIA winners will be announced at the HIA expo and gala dinner held on 10 October at the Wellington Town Hall.

ENDS

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