CHOP Surgeons Separate Conjoined Twins

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) recently successfully separated a pair of craniopagus conjoined twin girls. The twins, Erin and Abby Delaney, were attached at the top of the head – one of the rarest types of conjoined twinning. The girls’ family hails from North Carolina, but they came to Philadelphia and to CHOP for the latter part of their mother Heather Delaney’s pregnancy and delivery to receive the very best care possible. The sisters were born ten weeks early by c-section last July. They spent seven months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) while they grew and caught up with other full-term infants and while their team of doctors could assemble and construct a plan for their separation.

Sisters Abby and Erin Delaney were successfully separated at CHOP on June 7th. (Ed Cunicelli/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia via AP)

The separation surgery took place on June 7th and lasted for 11 hours. The team of approximately 30 members, including physicians, nurses and other medical staff from neurosurgery, plastic and reconstructive surgery, and anesthesiology were led by neurosurgeon Gregory Heuer, MD, PhD, and plastic surgeon Jesse Taylor, MD. All the equipment in the surgical suite was marked with either green or purple tape, one for each infant.

“During the separation surgery, our team first meticulously separated the infants’ shared blood vessels and dura, the tough protective membrane surrounding both brains, then moved on to separate the sagittal sinus, the most difficult portion of the operation,” said Heuer. “Finally, we divided our team into two halves, one for each of the girls, and finished the reconstruction portion of the surgery.”

CHOP has completed more separations of conjoined twins than any other hospital in the Western Hemisphere: 23 sets since 1957. Erin and Abby were the hospital’s first craniopagus pair. Now, for the first time, the girls are able to lie side by side in separate beds. They will likely need one or two more surgeries to complete the reconstruction process, but their family is looking forward to bringing them home later this year to great celebration.