The Klea Moris Ann conjoined twins surgery was successfully completed on Friday by a Saudi medical team. The operation lasted 18 and a half hours. Doctors called it one of the most complex cases the world has ever seen.
The procedure was done at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh. The hospital sits inside King Abdulaziz Medical City, which falls under Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of National Guard.
What did the surgeons do?
Team leader Abdullah Al-Rabeeah said doctors finished the fourth and fifth stages of the surgery. These final stages covered skull closure, cosmetic repair, and full reconstruction. The first three stages had already been done before this day.
The full surgical plan had five stages in total. Team surgeon Mutasim Al-Zoubi led the planning. Thirty specialists worked together on this case. They came from fields like anaesthesia, intensive care, advanced imaging, and plastic surgery.
How risky was the operation?
Al-Rabeeah was honest about the risks. He said the chance of the surgery going wrong was around 50 percent. On top of that, there was a 60 percent chance of serious brain-related complications. These could have led to permanent disability.
Doctors consulted an international medical centre before starting. That centre agreed with the Saudi team’s reading of the case. The twins’ parents were told everything before the surgery began.
Why does this surgery matter?
This was the 70th separation surgery under Saudi Arabia’s Conjoined Twins Program. The program started back in 1990. Since then, it has treated 157 sets of conjoined twins. These children came from 28 countries across five continents.
Al-Rabeeah said the program does more than save lives. It raises Saudi Arabia’s name as a global leader in humanitarian medicine. He praised the entire team for putting patient care above all else, no matter where the children come from.
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