Ervina and Prefina, are the two Siamese twins who were separated during a lengthy surgery at theInfant Jesus children's hospital Roma. The two little sisters, of Central African origin, were united by the nape, with the skull and most of the venous system in common. The intervention carried out by the health workers of the Capitoline hospital was very successful and is probably the only one of its kind in the world. The girls were subjected to surgery, lasted 18 hours, last June 5 and today, one month after the surgery, the doctors confirm that the little sisters are fine.
Ervina and Prefina, the twins
The girls they turned 2 on 29 June last in the Bambin Gesù neurosurgery ward where they are hospitalized, assisted by their mother and the hospital's doctors. Their clinical history begins in 2018 when the president of the Roman hospital, Mariella Enoch, on a mission to Bangui in Central Africa, meets the two little sisters joined by the head. Enoc decides to bring them to Italy thinking about the intervention and therefore the opportunity to give them a normal life.
The preparation of the intervention
Ervina and Prefina are total craniophages, united at the cranial and cerebral level. Although they have many things in common, they have different personalities and a system of mirrors is used to make them known and recognized. To separate them, a multidisciplinary group is created that studies and plans every detail with the most advanced tools, reconstructing 3D the brains of little girls. The most difficult part to intervene on is the network of cerebral blood vessels due to the high risk of hemorrhages and ischemias. Precisely to minimize the risks, it was decided to proceed in three phases, to reconstruct two independent venous systems, capable of containing the blood load that goes from the brain to the heart.
The first surgery was performed in May 2019, the second in June 2019 and the third in June 2020 with the definitive separation successful. A team of over 30 people, including doctors, surgeons and nurses, carried out the surgery. Today the risk of infection is still there, but post-operative checks indicate that the brain is intact and the recreated system is functioning. The twins now have the opportunity to grow regularly and have a normal life.
The wish of the mother of the twins
Ermine, the mother of the two twins, has a great desire: that her two girls be baptized by Papa Francesco. Also, Ervina and Prefina's mother really hopes her little ones will one day study and become doctors to save more lives. “I never went to school - says Ermine - but now I hope that my daughters can do all the things that other children of their age do.
I hope that when they grow up they can study to become a doctor and help many other people ". Ermine, thanked the president of the hospital Mariella Enoc and Carlo Marras, the doctor in charge of the neurosurgery unit. “Without their help - he underlines - I don't know what I would have done. They made my daughters resurrect, as was done with Jesus ”.
