PARIS (AP) -- An operation to separate conjoined twin boys from Madagascar was successful and the babies are "doing well," doctors at a Paris hospital said Thursday.
Eight-month-old Imahagaga and Imahalatsa were born June 16 last year in Madagascar, joined at the thorax and abdomen and sharing a liver.
On Wednesday, they underwent a four-hour operation at Paris' Necker-Enfants Malades hospital involving a team of 20 medical staff from France and Madagascar.
Professor Yann Revillon, who led the operating team, said while the boys awoke from the anesthetic "in good condition," psychological effects may linger.
"It will be a shock for the two of them to be separated after seven months of life together," Revillon said.
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The delicate operation required surgeons to cut through the skin joining the twins and then close a hole underneath.
The boys, who come from a poor family in southern Madagascar, will be raised by their single mother, who also has another child. They are expected to recuperate in Paris until the summer, then return home.
