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7-weeks old conjoined twins who shared a heart separated successfully

In an eight-hour surgery, 7-week-old twin girls have being succesfully seperated at Kosair Childrens Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

7-weeks old Conjoined twins who shared a heart separated successfully

The two girls were joined at the chest and abdominal cavity and also shared some heart structures and their livers were connected.

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Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville said in a statement that the eight-hour surgery was performed on the seven-week-old girls on November 11.

While both remain on ventilators, the hospital said they are getting stronger each day.

More than 45 doctors, nurses and hospital staff were involved in the planning procedure to separate the girls whose names have not been released.

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'We are so thankful to God and everyone at Kosair Children's Hospital for getting them this far,' the mother said in the hospital's release.

Although their long-term prognosis is unknown, chief cardiovascular surgeon Erle H. Austin III says doctors are 'cautiously optimistic' about their future.

'In any situation where you have so complex a surgery, there is always a long road to recovery,' Austin said in a news release.

The children's hospital last separated conjoined twins in 2001.

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Those infants were connected at the heart and were unable to survive, according to the hospital.

Experts say conjoined twins occur once in about every 200,000 pregnancies.

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