XRlabs Pioneers AI-Designed Implants in Historic Conjoined Twin Separation

XRlabs, a surgical intelligence company, announced its technology was used to design patient-specific skull implants for surgical separation of craniopagus twins. This marks a world first in AI-designed patient-specific implants using extended reality technology.

The surgery was done at PureHealth SEHA Sheikh Khalifa Medical City in Abu Dhabi in 2025 and led by Professor Noor ul Owase Jeelani, MBE, a UK-based pediatric neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and founder of UK charity Gemini Untwined.

The twins, named Mercy and Goodness and born in Nigeria with fused skulls, intertwined brain tissue, and connected blood vessels, have made full recoveries and returned home. The procedure was the first successful craniopagus separation completed in the Middle East.

XRlabs’ platform allowed surgeons to design implants within seconds by overlaying CT scan data as real-time 3D models in a mixed-reality environment and then translating those designs into the physical world. The underlying AI model was trained on similarly aged infant head shapes to ensure the curvature of each implant matched normal development anatomy and eliminate the need for manual design.

The platform also supported the surgical team’s pre-op preparation, allowing them to conduct patient-specific rehearsal before the final 12-hour operation. It mapped the twins’ vascular and neural anatomy in a shared virtual environment.

The case is now documented in a BBC documentary and is the latest in a series of milestones for XRlabs, whose platform has now been used in over 100 surgical cases on three continents.

Comments from XRlabs and Gemini Untwined

Dr. Ali Haddad, founder and CEO of XRlabs and practicing neurosurgeon: “It’s a great achievement to see our technology used this way. Our visualization capabilities have advanced significantly over the two years since the company’s founding, enabling us to push the edges of what’s possible in surgery. Designing these implants represents another world first and a marker of what’s yet to come.”

Professor Jeelani, lead pediatric neurosurgeon for the twins’ separation and founder of Gemini Untwined: “Modeling and practice simulation in augmented reality has come a long way in recent years. Now this has a material effect in making complex surgeries safer and more efficient. Through this, we are making surgeries safer and less invasive, ultimately leading to better results for craniopagus twins while having a wider impact on pediatric surgical practice at large. There’s a lot of experience, a lot of science, and many people coming together to help these two babies and through this process, thousands of others.”