Background on Angelina and Angelica Sabuco's Surgery

Conjoined twins Angelina and Angelica Sabuco underwent separation surgery at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital on November 1, 2011.

Most conjoined twins do not survive pregnancy. The occurrence of conjoined twins is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births worldwide, and the overall survival rate is approximately 25 percent.
Separation surgery is performed in the United States about six times per year.
Angelina and Angelina were classified as thoraco-omphalopagus; they were joined at the chest and abdomen. Their livers, diaphragms, sterni (breast bones), chest and abdominal wall muscles were fused. They had separate hearts, brains, kidneys, stomachs and intestines.
This was the sixth separation of conjoined twins for lead surgeon Gary Hartman, MD.
This was the second set of conjoined twins separated at Packard Children’s. Yurelia and Fiorella Rocha-Arias were separated at the hospital in November 2007.