Yigit and Derman

After three sets of girls, this time we had 2 boys referred to us. They were in good shape and as Gemini Untwined was fully up and running by the time of the referral, logistics and funding were much easier and quicker to arrange.. Professor Jeelani first saw them in August 2019 whilst on holiday in Turkey. By a stroke of pure serendipity they lived in the same area as he was visiting. Following discussions with the family and the Turkish medical teams, Gemini was requested to proceed with the attempted separation. Turkey has expert health care professionals and excellent healthcare facilities but given the rare nature of this condition, all clinicians involved felt it would be safer for the kids to have their surgery with a team with previous experience.

The boys arrived at Great Ormond Street Hospital in December 2019, aged 18 months. For clinical and logistical reasons, we altered our previous surgical plan and started with the skin expansion first. The expanders were inserted in early December 2019. After five weeks of skin expansion we started on separating their brains and blood vessels. This was done in three stages, each stage being one week apart during January 2020. The three surgeries lasted some 36 hours and the whole process took seven weeks, which was quicker than any previous set of craniopagus twins. From Gemini Untwined’s previous experience, we were able to work out that it would be safe to undertake separation at this pace and the risk of complications due to prolonged hospital stay would be minimised. We were pleased this worked out even though the team were exhausted by the end of January!

Yigit and Derman underwent initial rehabilitation and some further surgical procedures to improve their scalps and the skin over their heads. The boys were transferred back to Turkey in June , 2020 to continue their rehabilitation. The team at Gemini Untwined is delighted we were able to help these boys. We were not expecting to receive a referral so soon after our previous set of twins but as Gemini Untwined was fully operational by the time of the referral, it was possible for us to raise funds and mobilise resources to help these children within a matter of weeks.