Twin four-year-old girls joined at the head are successfully separated in ten-hour operation involving 22 doctors and nurses

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Dr Ahmad Al-Furrayan, who was in charge of the operation, said it took 10 hours instead of the 12 hours that had been planned and was carried out in stages

The sisters had been conjoined since their birth four years ago, sharing a skull but not a brain. This means they were craniopagus twins, a phenomenon occurring only once in every 2.5 million births.

 Dr Al-Furrayan said the operation on the conjoined twins was one of the most complicated and difficult Siamese cases he had seen

Syrian sisters Tuqa and Yakeen had been conjoined since birth, sharing a skull but not a brain. They were operated on at the Specialist Children's Hospital in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh

 This weekend, they were separated at the Specialist Children's Hospital in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. The success rate for the operation is 60 per cent

 The girls' plight first came to light in 2013 when their father appealed for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to help with treatment. The operation was paid for by the Saudi government as a humanitarian gesture

• The surgery on female twins, Tuqa and Yakeen Al Khadar, took 10 hours instead of 12, which was first expected 
• They had been conjoined - meaning they shared a skull but had two brains - since birth four years ago in Syria 
• Operation, which doctors say was one of the 'most complicated' they had seen, was the last stage for the sisters 
• There is a 60 per cent surgery success rate involving craniopagus twins - which affects one in 2.5million births  

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT 

The kind of separation surgery the girls needed was the most difficult and complicated, doctors had warned ahead of the 10 hour surgery

Conjoined twins joined at the head have been successfully separated in an operation involving 22 doctors and nurses that was carried out this weekend.

The surgery on female twins, Tuqa and Yakeen Al Khadar, who were conjoined since birth was carried out at the Specialist Children's Hospital in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.  

According to a hospital spokesman, the surgery was actually the fourth and final stage to be performed on the Syrian twins.

The spokesman said: 'The hospital has performed preparatory surgeries since April 2014 on the twins', adding that there was a remarkable progress in all the efforts.

Dr Ahmad Al-Furrayan, who was in charge of the operation, said it took 10 hours instead of the 12 hours that had been planned and was carried out in stages.

He said: 'The twins were conjoined at the head and that meant this was one of the most complicated and difficult Siamese cases.'

The sisters had been conjoined since their birth four years ago, sharing a skull but not a brain. This means they were craniopagus twins, a phenomenon occurring only once in every 2.5 million births.

The girls' plight first came to light in 2013 when their father appealed for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to help with treatment.

Despite needing urgent surgery Hussein Al Khadr said he could not afford it due to supporting a family of 11 in war-ravaged Syria, Emirates247.com reported.

At the time, the twins were 16 months old.   

The success rate for this type of operation is 60 per cent, and Dr Al-Furrayan had been positive it would deliver the expected results.

Saudi Arabia has performed 37 surgeries on Siamese twins since 1990 with cases coming from 18 different countries including Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.

Almost 30 other cases were examined, but doctors decided it was impossible to separate. 

The costs are being borne by the Saudi government as a humanitarian gesture. 

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