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Conjoined twins who shared spinal cords have successfully been separated during a gruelling eighteen-hour operation. The operation on one-year-old Nigerian sisters Hussaina and Hassana Badaru involved 40 doctors, and is only the fourth such separation to be carried out in the world. The pair, who were born with a condition called pygopagus in Kano, Nigeria, were joined at the hip and had spinal cord fusion, while also sharing a lower gastrointestinal passage and genitalia. Specialist surgeons at BLK Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi, India, conducted the separation on August 12. They carried out two procedures - one to divide the twins, and one reconstructive operation. The procedures - which cost an estimated �64,000 and were paid for by a Nigerian philanthropist - were so risky that doctors were forced to conduct practice runs on dummies before attempting it for real. Dr Prashant Jain, the paediatric surgeon who led the team, said: �The separation of the Badaru twins was a big challenge as they had unusual sharing of alimentary canal, genitourinary system and nervous system. �We overcame this with meticulous planning and team work. Rehearsals were carried out using dummies. �Every surgical step was defined and rehearsed over and over again till it reached precision. �The girls were colour coded, one pink and the other blue, for eight days before the surgery so that there would be no error at all. �All tubes, wires, catheters, leads, syringes, injections and drugs were also colour coded in accordance with the pink or blue code to avoid any error or miscalculation.� Head of anaesthesiology, Dr Valecha, added: �The most difficult task in this surgery was the anaesthetist�s job which was challenging by the fact that whatever drug was given to one twin, the other would receive it inadvertently through a large sharing vein therefore it needed to be calculated and monitored carefully.� For the girls� parents, father Badaru, and mother Malama Badariyya Badaru, it was the culmination of a long process to save their daughters.