姐妹情深：双胞胎成功进行皮肤移植手术
Twin to twin skin transplant hailed as a success
The 66-year-old Fields twins, from Missouri, have lived together all their lives - now they are even closer after sharing their skin.
这对来自密苏里州的66岁的Fields双胞胎，从出生起就一起生活，而在移植手术后她们变得更加亲密了。
Marian Fields had an aggressive and very rare form of skin cancer, which left her with large, open wounds around her backbone following multiple operations and radiation treatments.
Marian Fields患有一种严重且非常罕见的皮肤癌，在多次手术和放射治疗后她的脊椎周围留下了大量的开放性伤口。
She was beginning to lose all hope of recovery after plastic surgeons in the US refused to take on her case because of the size of the wound.
由于伤口太大，美国的整形外科医生拒绝接收她的病例，她甚至快要放弃所有治疗的希望。
But her identical twin sister Mary Jane provided the solution.
但是她同卵双胞胎姐妹Mary Jane提供了解决方案。
"There was never a moment of hesitation when the option to donate skin and tissue was a possibility," Mary Jane said.
Mary说：“当我得知捐献皮肤和组织可以让她得到治疗的时候，我没有丝毫的犹豫。”
"I had what she needed. We are two bodies with one soul. She is my other self."
“我有她需要的东西。我们拥有的是同一个灵魂不过分开在了两具身体。她就是另一个我。”
Dr Jesse Selber, a plastic surgeon from the MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas, who had previously performed the first skull-scalp transplant, said the surgery was "incredibly challenging and complex”.
Jesse Selber是德克萨斯大学安德森癌症中心的一名整形外科医生，他之前曾做过首例头骨移植手术，他说这次手术“非常具有挑战性并且复杂”。
His team of five plastic surgeons removed skin, tissue and blood vessels from Mary Jane's abdomen and transplanted it to Marian's back, connecting eight different arteries and veins under a microscope during surgery.
包括他在内的五名医生团队从Mary的腹部取出皮肤、组织和血管，并将其移植到Marian的背部，在显微镜下进行手术的医生们连接了八根不同的动脉和静脉。
The hole in Marian's back was 21.5in by 8.5in (55cm x 22 cm), making it one of the largest tissue transplantations on record.
Marian背部的伤口有55cm x 22厘米大，这是有史以来最大的组织移植之一。
By donating skin to her sister, Mary Jane - in effect - got a giant tummy tuck.
在向她的妹妹捐赠皮肤后，Mary相当于进行了一次大型的腹部拉皮手术。
Having an identical twin made the transplantation process more likely to succeed for Marian because no suppression of her immune system was required - but there were still huge risks.
由于提供者是同卵双胞胎，这次移植手术成功的可能性很大，因为不需要对Marian的免疫系统进行抑制——但是仍然存在巨大的风险。
Surgeons said they were concerned about the donated skin being rejected and the possibility of the cancer recurring.
外科医生说，他们担心被移植的皮肤会引起排斥反应，以及癌症复发的可能性。
Although the tumour in Marian's back was very aggressive, it was not a type that spreads to other parts of the body so receiving her sister's skin and tissue was a perfect fix.
虽然Marian背部的肿瘤具有很强的侵袭性，但它并不会扩散到身体其他部位，所以接受她姐姐的皮肤组织移植是最完美的修复方案。
Dr Selber said: "Marian's wound was impossibly large - without her genetically identical sister, we would not have had enough tissue to reconstruct it.”
Selber医生说：“Marian的伤口非常之大，如果没有她基因相同的姐妹，我们可能找不到足够多的同基因组织来修复它。”
The surgery took 14 hours and involved "extensive resection through skin, muscle and bone", followed by "hours of meticulous microvascular work”.
该手术耗时14个小时，包括了“大量的皮肤、肌肉和骨骼的切除”，以及“数小时细致的微血管工作。”
This involved re-connecting countless veins and arteries.
涉及到重新连接无数的静脉和动脉。
The surgery was meticulously planned beforehand - and it paid off, according to Dr Selber.
"It went quite beautifully," he said.
Selber医生说，这一手术在实施前是经过了精心策划的，并且得到了回报。
“手术过程非常成功，”他说。
Before the transplant surgery, Marian was in horrible pain. She couldn't lie on her back or sit up in a chair properly.
手术前Marian经受着巨大的疼痛，她不能躺甚至也不能正常地坐在椅子上。
One month on from the surgery, the twins have been discharged, the stitches have been removed and they have returned home.
而在术后一个月，这对双胞胎已经拆线出院并回到了家中。
Marian says: "I'm looking forward to getting back to work, driving, running and sitting comfortably.
"I've never been sick before 2012 and am ready to get back to life.”
Marian说：“我希望能回去工作、开车、跑步还有舒服地坐着，2012年前我都没病过，现在我已经准备好了回到从前的生活。”
来源：BBC
编译：陆婧宇
