Conjoined twin girls, 2, die on operating table after fifth desperate surgery to separate them goes wrong
Two-year-old conjoined twins, Heloísa and Helena Batista da Silva, died on 15 August during their fifth and what was meant to be final separation surgery at Hospital das Clínicas in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. The sisters, who were born with fused heads and shared brain tissue and blood vessels, went into cardiac arrest minutes apart after developing dangerous blood pressure instability once the operation had separated them, despite the involvement of more than 50 medical and support staff.
Doctors attempted resuscitation for 25 minutes but could not save either girl; Helena died at 11.37pm and Heloísa at 11.51pm, having suffered heart attacks 14 minutes apart shortly before. The twins had endured three prior surgeries that separated around 75 percent of their shared vessels and tissue, plus a fourth to fit tissue expanders ahead of the final procedure, and had been chronically unwell with pneumonia, a tracheostomy and gastrostomy feeding. They were buried on 16 August in São José dos Campos; their father thanked the medical team and said he did not blame them, while surgeon Jayme Farina Júnior said their bodies could not withstand the instability caused by the operation. Their care, the hospital's third such craniopagus separation attempt, was funded through Brazil's public healthcare system.
- Conjoined twins, 2, died during fifth and final separation surgery in Brazil
- Both suffered cardiac arrest minutes apart despite 50+ staff attending
- Father thanked medical team, said he does not blame them for deaths
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Two-year-old twins Heloísa and Helena Batista da Silva were born conjoined at the head, a rare condition called craniopagus, meaning they shared brain tissue and blood vessels. Doctors in Brazil had been working for some time to separate them gradually, through a series of operations rather than one single procedure, because the risks of untangling shared blood supply and tissue are so severe.
The girls were being treated at Hospital das Clínicas in Ribeirão Preto, a public hospital in São Paulo state, with their care funded through Brazil's public healthcare system. They had already been through several surgeries to divide their shared vessels and tissue, alongside ongoing health problems linked to their condition, before undergoing what was intended to be a final, complete separation.
Craniopagus twins are extremely rare, and successful full separations are difficult and dangerous, carrying serious risks even with large surgical teams and careful planning. The case has drawn attention both for the medical complexity involved and for the human story of a family and hospital team who had invested years of effort into trying to give the girls separate lives.