An Irish surgeon who emigrated after being sanctioned by the Medical Council – and who was later vindicated in the High Court – has successfully separated conjoined twins in Tanzania.
Prof Martin Corbally led a team of specialist doctors in separating the two-month-old male twins, who were conjoined at the stomach.
Two teams of anaesthetists and nine other surgeons, all from Tanzania, worked with him on the operation, which was the first successful separation of conjoined twins at the Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam.
The surgery has been hailed as a milestone for the medical profession in the African state, the local East African newspaper has reported.
A decision was made in late July to operate on the twins, born earlier that month in a village 100km south of Dar es Salaam, but doctors had to wait 60 days before the two Masai boys reached the required minimum weight of 4.5kg.
"They shared a part of the liver, abdominal and lower chest wall, but fortunately did not share any major blood vessels and had normal lungs and hearts," Prof Corbally told The Irish Times.
There was initial concern that the drainage of the liver might be shared but luckily this too was separate.
“We had initial discussions by email about the anatomy and the potential problems that could arise. When we had briefed the local teams and were convinced that there would be two separate anaesthetic teams and that the local surgeons were happy to proceed, the twins were separated with no complications.
‘Connecting tissue’
“When the last piece of connecting tissue was divided there was great applause from all the team at the success of the procedure which was wonderful to witness.
“One baby was taken to a separate table and the other stayed with me.”
Both babies, now back with their delighted mother, are well, he confirmed. “Siamese twins are very, very rare and of course fascinate us. It was a great privilege to be able to help our colleagues in Muhimbili National achieve this excellent outcome.”
Based in Bahrain, Prof Corbally is head of the surgery department at the local campus of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). He has also worked in Tanzania and Vietnam through his role as founder of Operation Childlife, an Irish charity that brings specialist medical skills to developing countries.
Prof Corbally appeared before the Medical Council after a mistake was made in 2010 during a procedure at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin. A tongue-tie operation on a two-year-old girl was performed incorrectly, although it was later corrected.
‘Distinguished’ doctor
The fitness-to-practise committee found Prof Corbally, who did not carry out the operation, guilty of poor professional performance. The High Court quashed this decision, and the Supreme Court confirmed this after the Medical Council appealed.
Mr Justice Adrian Hardiman in the Supreme Court said Prof Corbally was "not merely a competent doctor, but a very distinguished one". He pointed out that the doctor's workload at Crumlin was "intimidatingly" large, involving 1,200 patients, 100 appointments a week and up to 12 nights on call each month.
Fitness-to-practise hearings used to be held in private until an Act passed in 2007 made public hearings the default position.
Prof Corbally also faced allegations of professional misconduct arising out of the wrongful removal of a healthy kidney from a boy in March 2008. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.
[ Separating conjoined twins: ‘This is our landing on the moon’Opens in new window ]
