PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Officials say surgeons at a Philadelphia hospital have successfully completed operations to separate 8-month-old twin girls from New York who were joined at the lower chest and abdomen.
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said the seven-hour procedures to separate Allison and Amelia Tucker of Adams, N.Y., were completed at about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday.
Officials earlier said the twins — who shared their chest wall, diaphragm, pericardium and liver — were "excellent candidates" for separation.
Lead surgeon Holly Hedrick said in a statement Wednesday night that the complex surgery "went very well and as expected."
She says the twins will be monitored closely during their recovery and should be able to live "full, healthy and independent lives."
Officials said the surgery was the 21st separation of conjoined twins performed at the hospital.
