Houston's conjoined twins take step toward separation

Doctors look over the twins with their family after the surgery. Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, conjoined twin girls born at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women in April, underwent a five-hour surgery at Texas Children’s Hospital on Dec. 16 to place custom-made tissue expanders into their chest and abdomen area. The tissue expanders will help to stretch the babies’ skin in preparation for their separation surgery expected to take place in early 2015. less Doctors look over the twins with their family after the surgery. Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, conjoined twin girls born at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women in April, underwent a five-hour surgery ... more Photo: Allen S.Kramer TCH, Allen Kramer / Texas Children's Hospital Photo: Allen S.Kramer TCH, Allen Kramer / Texas Children's Hospital Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Houston's conjoined twins take step toward separation 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

Surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital performed a five-hour procedure this week to help prepare conjoined twin girls for separation.

The doctors placed custom-made tissue expanders into the chest and abdomen area of the girls, Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata, during the surgery on Tuesday. The girls were born April 11 at Texas Children's Pavilion for Women.

The girls are joined at the heart and share a liver and other organs. Their weight at birth was estimated at 3 pounds, 7 ounces each. Their parents, Elysse and John Mata, and their 5-year-old brother, Azariah, live in Lubbock.

"We are pleased the babies did so well during this surgery and a multidisciplinary team continues to monitor them in our neonatal intensive care unit as they recover," Dr. Larry Hollier, chief of plastic surgery at Texas Children's and chief of the division of plastic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, said in a statement released by the hospital Friday.

"On a regular basis, additional fluid will be added to the tissue expanders, which are like balloons, to allow the skin to be stretched gradually. We anticipate needing extra skin to provide coverage once the babies are separated," Hollier said.

The surgery, performed by Hollier and Dr. Ed Buchanan, will require a recovery time of six to eight weeks, the statement said. Plans for separation surgery, to be performed early next year, will continue among specialists in pediatric surgery, urology, plastic surgery, orthopedic surgery, cardiovascular surgery and pediatric gynecology.

Plans for the surgery included building a 3-D model of the girls' organs, conducting simulations of the surgery and post-operative care, and helping to create devices such as a swing that will hold the girls upright to ease pressue on their incisions, said Dr. Darrell Cass, a pediatric surgeon who is co-director of Texas Children's Fetal Center.