According to experts, conjoined twins are extremely rare.
Just 50 twins are born every year — conjoined at the top of the head, according to Dayton Children’s hospital. And an estimated 15 of those survive more than a few months.
A new documentary from Dayton Children’s Hospital details the process of separating conjoined twins.
The documentary is called Connected: the story of the seemingly impossible separation of conjoined twins Pedro and Augusto.
The boys came to Dayton Children’s from Guatemala with their mother in 2021 with hopes for a groundbreaking separation.
Robert Lober is a Pediatric Neurosurgeon at Dayton Children’s. In the documentary, he said the twin’s case was a challenge.
“Conjoined twins is a rare condition. Pedro and Augusto, they're connected at the tops of their heads and they're slightly rotated. It's that rotation that makes this so challenging.”
Chris Gordon is plastic surgeon at Dayton Children’s. In the film, he said the twins came to the hospital’s attention because of the severity of their condition.
“I had been working on a couple of missions to Guatemala. And while we were there doing cleft surgeries, one of the directors of the Shriners asked if we could be potentially interested in seeing some more complex cases. He pulled out his phone and said, how about this?”
The twins arrived at Dayton Children's in 2021.
The documentary follows the twins and their medical team over two years and four major surgeries. They were officially separated in April of last year.
The film is available on YouTube.