PHILADELPHIA— Surgeons at a Philadelphia hospital have successfully completed operations to separate 8-month-old twin girls who were joined at the lower chest and abdomen.

 

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia says the seven-hour procedures to separate Allison and Amelia Tucker were completed Wednesday afternoon.

 

The twins are from Adams, New York. They shared their chest wall, diaphragm, pericardium and liver. Officials had said they were “excellent candidates” for separation.

 

Lead surgeon Holly Hedrick says the complex surgery “went very well and as expected.” She says the twins will be monitored closely during their recovery and should be able to live “full, healthy and independent lives.”

 

Officials say the surgery was the 21st separation of conjoined twins performed at the hospital.