Four-month-old conjoined twins, who were born joined at the breast and abdomen, have been successfully separated after a six-hour operation in a hospital in Shanghai.
The twin girls had been under supervision in the intensive care unit of Shanghai Children's Medical Center since their birth in late April, media reports said.
Liu Jinfen, director of Shanghai Children's Medical Center, said they had detected the abnormality early enough into the pregnancy to allow abortion, but the parents chose to have them.
"After the preliminary examination, we made it clear that we needed to not only ensure the normal development of the babies, but also offer the parents a chance to make a moral choice. The parents were not worried too much," said Liu Jinfen.
The operation to separate An An and Min Min required four teams of doctors working at the same time, China Daily said.
Doctors managed to split their shared heart sacs and a single liver, reshape breast bones and breasts with titanium-alloy plates, the report added. They now each have a working heart and half a liver.
The separated babies were placed in a container especially designed to hold each of them stable and Liu said both girls should make a full recovery.
"We have managed to separate them completely. I believe they will be recovering well and soon," he said.
Between 800,000 and 1.2 million children in China are born with natural deformities each year, Shanghai's Dragon TV reported.
3 News / Reuters