Surgeons in the United States performed an operation lasting more than 24 hours to separate two-year-old sisters who were born conjoined at the head. The highly complex procedure took place in February at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. NBC News reports on the outcome.
The sisters, Hiyab and Wuhbto, were born in Ethiopia. In March 2025, they traveled to the United States with their family to prepare for the surgery. On February 24–25 of this year, doctors separated their skulls in a procedure that lasted more than a day. Specialists from multiple medical fields took part in the operation.
The girls are now undergoing intensive therapy and rehabilitation at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital in Missouri. Doctors cannot yet say exactly how the surgery will affect their development in the long term.
After the separation, the sisters gained the opportunity to undergo individual rehabilitation. They are learning to sit, eat, and speak independently, as well as interact with each other and other children. Eventually, specialists hope to teach them to stand and walk.
Medical and charitable organizations from the United States and Ethiopia, as well as other international partners, participated in preparing for and carrying out the surgery.
“It is still too early to say what their long-term development will look like, but now they have opportunities that would not have been possible without this intervention,” said Joanna Kemp, head of neurosurgery at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon.
Conjoined twins are rare: according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the condition occurs in approximately one in every 50,000 to 100,000 live births. Girls are born conjoined about three times as often as boys.
Conjoined twins result from an abnormality in the development of identical embryos during the earliest stages of pregnancy. Normally, the fertilized egg that will develop into identical twins separates into two independent embryos within the first five to six days after conception. If the division is delayed and occurs between days 13 and 15 after fertilization, the cells of the embryo have already begun to specialize and form organs, preventing the embryos from completely separating.
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