Washington, 2 Dec (EFE).-Maria and Teresa Tapia Dominican girls, who were born joined by abdomen and they were separated successfully on November 7 at the hospital in Richmond (USA.)(UU), they were given high today, reported the authorities.

During a press conference at the Hospital of the child of the University of the Commonwealth of Virginia (VCU), Lisandra Sanatis, mother of girls, thanked doctors, while 20 months small smiling and applauded before the cameras.

“I thank God and all those who made this possible,” said Sanatis with the help of an interpreter.

For his part, David Lanning, who led the team of 45 doctors and specialists who participated in the intervention, noted that girls have been a good recovery and probably do not need treatment to long term.

“Will live a long and healthy life and may be together but make independent decisions,” he predicted Lanning, who was satisfied with the results of the operation, the first of its kind in that hospital.

Lanning noted that girls remain in the Richmond area for visits of follow-up and physical therapy sessions, but probably will be able to return home before Christmas.

Girls were born joined by the bottom of the chest and abdomen, and were subjected to a complex operation that lasted 20 hours.

According to a statement from VCU, girls shared liver, part of the biliary system, pancreas glands and the upper part of the small intestine or duodenum.

Lanning explained that one of the challenges of the medical team is that Mary, the younger of the twins, was about 20% smaller than Teresa because it did not receive the nutrition necessary for the way in which they were United.

Three weeks after the operation, the bodies of both girls work in a normal way and both receive physiotherapy so in the future they can sit and walk through your account.

“Apart from learning to walk again, something that should not be difficult, Maria and Teresa will only need continue to strengthen your abdominal muscles”, said Lanning, who considered that girls apparently “have adjusted very well to be separated”.

The twins and their mother came to the hospital for an initial evaluation of your case in December 2010 through so-called Pediatrics world project (WPP), an organization non-profit that serves as a liaison between the medical and children services in critical situations in developing countries, explained the hospital. EFE