Louisville surgeons last week separated 7-week-old conjoined twins at Kosair Children맥스카지노�s Hospital.The baby girls have been in the hospital맥스카지노�s Critical Care Center since the operation and are still on ventilators, but are getting stronger, the hospital said in a release.The twins were defined as thoraco-omphalopagus. Their bodies were joined at the chest and abdominal cavity. Their livers were joined, and they shared some of the same heart structures.More than 45 people were involved in planning and performing the surgery, which went smoothly and took about eight hours. To prepare, surgeons practiced using dolls.맥스카지노�In any situation where you have so complex a surgery, there is always a long road to recovery,맥스카지노� said Dr. Erle H. Austin III, chief of cardiovascular surgery at Kosair Children맥스카지노�s Hospital and a surgeon with University of Louisville Physicians. 맥스카지노�We are cautiously optimistic, as one or both may require additional surgeries in the future.맥스카지노�The babies were born at Norton Hospital and had been in the Kosair Children맥스카지노�s Hospital Level IV neonatal intensive care unit since birth.맥스카지노�God was definitely watching over the girls and the medical team on the day of the surgery,맥스카지노� the babies맥스카지노� mother said.According to the release, the surgical team waited as long as possible to perform the separation, but the babies began to need increased breathing support and were not growing as they should. Separation was a risky procedure for both, but one of the girls was more fragile than the other and survival was in question.Their long-term prognosis isn맥스카지노�t yet known.