New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS): A leading hospital Thursday announced the successful separation through surgery of a pair of male pygopagus twins (fused at the pelvis). The surgery was conducted in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu capital.

Ericana and Eluidi, nine-month-old twins from Tanzania, were joined at the posterior. They were separated at the Apollo Speciality Hospitals in Vanagaram, Chennai, Monday. Their condition is now stable, the hospital has reported.

The surgery started at 9 a.m. Dec 16, and concluded with successful separation at about 1 a.m. Dec 17.

"It took us about 13 hours to separate the twins, post which reconstruction took another five hours," Venkata Sripathi, senior consultant paediatric urologist, said through a web conference from Chennai.

"The most challenging moments were the spinal separation without injury to the nerves of either baby, separation of the fused phallus without nerve and vessel injury, separation of the urinary bladder and urethra, followed by reconstruction of the pelvic floor around the rectum and anus, providing skin cover," he said.

He said both babies are stable, but under observation in the critical care unit.

"We are expecting them to be fit enough to be shifted to the ward in another five to seven days. Once they begin to feed and are active, they will be discharged," Sripathi said.

The surgery was conducted by a team of 20 doctors comprising specialists of neurosurgery, plastic surgery, paediatric surgery and paediatric urology.

Until now, only 30 sets of pygopagus twins have been reported in medical literature, of which 26 were female, making Ericana and Eluidi the fifth male pair.