Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus Quiej-Alvarez, twins who were
formerly conjoined at the head, are in stable condition after being
flown to UCLA from Guatemala last Thursday.
Physicians in Guatemala opted to transfer the twins to UCLA
after Maria Teresa’s condition worsened. In April, she was
admitted to the intensive care unit in a Guatemalan hospital after
a pump doctors had inserted in her head had become infected with E.
coli.
Pending tests, a new shunt may be placed in Maria Teresa’s
brain this Thursday in order to drain and relieve pressure from
cerebral spinal fluid that is not being properly absorbed by her
brain and spinal cord.
“I am absolutely hopeful that she will overcome this
difficulty,” said Dr. Jorge Lazareff, the twin’s lead
neurosurgeon who has been overseeing their care. “She is
still doing much better than expected.”
Maria Teresa is currently in the ICU at UCLA’s Mattel
Children’s Hospital, while her sister is on the pediatrics
floor.
Maria de Jesus is in excellent condition and was treated at UCLA
for a very minor scalp wound, Lazareff said.
Last month in Guatemala, Maria de Jesus suffered an episode of
high fevers followed by convulsions.
According to Henry Kawamoto, the UCLA reconstructive and plastic
surgeon for the twins, the fevers were unrelated to the separation
surgery, but a common occurrence in young children.
Lazareff expects Maria de Jesus to be able to return to
Guatemala within the next few days, while her sister, Maria Teresa,
will stay at UCLA for a few more weeks.
“We are going to be absolutely certain no other issues can
be solved here before we send them back over there,” Lazareff
said.
The twins’ parents were not able to come to UCLA with
their daughters in case of a mid-flight emergency on the plane
which transported them.
“Hopefully the girls will be going home soon and it
won’t be necessary for them to come,” said Cris
Embleton, co-founder of Healing the Children, the nonprofit
foundation that initially brought the twins to UCLA for separation
surgery.
The twins were separated at UCLA last August in a 23-hour
operation and returned to Guatemala in January.
Lazareff and Kawamoto hope the future care of the girls will be
handled by the physicians in Guatemala and will not necessitate
intervention by UCLA.
However, both girls will require plastic surgery when they are
five or six years of age in order to reconstruct their skull caps
and give them full heads of hair, Kawamoto said.