Life-saving surgery for conjoined Mauritian twins

When the parents were told that only one of their conjoined twins was healthy, they were saddened.

Doctors across the world refused to operate to save the healthy baby. The family was in gloom. The father, however, did not lose hope.

This was until doctors in Bengaluru offered to lend a helping hand to this family from Mauritius on the condition that it was a risky surgery to attempt.

It was Ian Papillon’s dream to have a daughter.

“After the delivery, when we were informed that our daughters were conjoined, sharing a heart, we were shattered,” he recollected. A father of three sons, he is delighted that the surgery saved the life of his child.

Doctors performed what they claim is the world’s first PDA stenting on conjoined twins as well as the region’s first thoracopagus separation surgery and saved the life of baby Cleanne Papillon.

The twins were conjoined from below the neck in the chest region. Baby Cleanne Papillon was one of the conjoined twins who shared a heart with her sister.

Dr Devi Shetty, chairman, Narayana Health, this was the first ever case where the twins shared a heart.

“When the babies were brought here, they were seven days old. We had to wait for them to turn a month old for the cath lab procedure. In the future, the child will need to undergo another heart surgery,” he said.

The family was informed that this would mean one of the twins referred to as a “parasite” in medical terms, would not survive.

Instead of four chambers for each, together, they had seven chambers.

“The other twin was using all the oxygen and food from the healthy one. Usually, we wait up to six months. In this case, the other child was also at risk,” said Dr Shetty.

Dr Shreesha Shankar Maiya, Consultant – Paediatric Cardiology and Electrophysiology, said:

“Open surgery was ruled out as they were conjoined from the thorax. Their heart was fused and chambers were merged making their case a complex and unsuitable one for any surgical treatment.”