Conjoined twins able to sit, play 25 days after separation

Hoang Truc Nhi and Hoang Dieu Nhi, who were born prematurely on June 7, 2019, have been responding well to physical therapy and are not suffering from much pain, doctors at the Children’s Hospital said.

For the last two days they have been able to sit without needing help, according to the hospital, where they had a 13-hour operation on July 15 to be separated.

Hoang Dieu Nhi laughs with a nurse holding her at the HCMC Children's Hospital, August 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Phuong Vu.

Truc Nhi likes playing peekaboo with nurses and doctors by covering her face and head with a blanket while Dieu Nhi moves to songs sung by nurses.

Both still have their legs in casts but can now move their toes.

Doctors plan to remove the casts in five-six weeks, enabling the infants to take their very first steps in life.

Two months from now doctors will perform surgeries to give them each an anus - they had been born with one - and close their bladders.

Hoang Truc Nhi sits and poses for a photo at HCMC Children's Hospital, August 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Phuong Vu.

Born at Hung Vuong Hospital, they had been transferred to the HCMC Children’s Hospital to be raised and monitored.

They were classified as a pair of ischiopagus tetrapus (quadripus) conjoined twins, which means they had a symmetrical continuous longitudinal axis with their area of union not broken anteriorly, according to doctors.

If a pair of conjoined twins is born for every 200,000 births, only 6 percent of them are classified as ischiopagus tetrapus, doctors said.

Truc Nhi and Dieu Nhi shared parts of their ileums and colons. They had two separate bladders and two ureters leading to them. Their pelvis was arranged in a circle.

Over the past year the twins had learned to sit up and coordinate with each other to move around despite their condition.