Conjoined Twin Sisters Separated

The Sabuco twins play together at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Monday, in Stanford, Calif. (Courtesy AP)

Twin two-year-old girls were separated Tuesday during a long, complex surgery at Stanford University's children's hospital. The girls were joined at the chest and abdomen.

More than 20 doctors and nurses took nine hours to separate the Philippine-born twins, Angelina and Angelica Sabuco.

The first phase of the surgery was to successfully separate the sisters. Once completed, the two girls moved into their own operating rooms to reconstruct the area they were connected.

Doctors said that if the twins stayed connected, it would have been more dangerous than if they went through the separation surgery. Dr. Gary Hartman, the lead surgeon said that if one conjoined twin dies, the other will die in hours. Muscular and skeletal deformaties can also worsen with time if the two stayed conjoined.

During the surgery, doctors needed to separate the girls' livers, diaphragms, breastbones, chest and abdominal wall muscles. 

The girls are expected to be in the hospital for two to three more weeks.