Oklahoma Conjoined Twins Seperated

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Conjoined twins born Oct. 25 have been separated by surgeons at OU Medical Center.

Hospital spokesman Allen Poston says Preslee Faith Wells and Kylee Hope Wells, who had been joined at the chest since birth, were separated at 12:14 p.m., a little more than an hour after the operation began.

Related story: 1/16/2009  Surgery Planned on Conjoined Twins

The process involved splitting the girls' livers and a tissue bridge that connected them.

Poston says that after the girls were separated, they were placed on their backs on separate beds in the operating room so that the surgical team, led by David Tuggle and Cameron Mantor, could begin the closing process.

The surgeons, who said before the operation that it might last four to six hours, finished shortly after 2 p.m.

Poston says the twins' parents, Stevie Stewart and Kyle Wells of Calumet, will be able to see their daughters later today. The twins are listed in critical condition.