20-doctor team plans operation to separate conjoined twins in Panama

Surgeons in Panama to separate conjoined twins

PANAMA CITY — A team of 20 doctors in Panama is preparing an operation to separate conjoined twin girls.

The one-year-old twins are joined at the abdomen, and doctors will have to separate their livers, in the first operation of its kind in the Central American nation.

The operation had been planned for next week, but doctors said Wednesday they had to postpone it after the twins caught colds.

The twins’ names reflect their closeness: Hannah Yinneth and Hannah Yanneth.

Dr. Iliana Ceballos of Panama’s Hospital of Pediatric Specialties says the girls “are very charismatic, very happy.”