In partnership with Gemini Untwined, XRlabs’ Surgical Intelligence platform generated custom implants in seconds and enabled successful craniopagus twin separation
PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–XRlabs, the Surgical Intelligence company, today announced its technology was used to design patient-specific skull implants for the surgical separation of craniopagus twins, marking a world-first achievement in AI-designed patient-specific implants using extended reality technology.
The surgery was performed 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 since made full recoveries and returned home. Completed by Gemini Untwined, the procedure was the first successful craniopagus separation completed in the Middle East.
XRlabs’ platform played a pivotal role in the surgery, enabling 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, ensuring the curvature of each implant matched normal developmental anatomy and removing the need for manual design.
“It’s a great achievement to see our technology used this way,” said Dr. Ali Haddad, Founder and CEO of XRlabs and a practicing neurosurgeon. “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.”
The XRlabs platform also supported the surgical team’s pre-operative preparation, allowing surgeons to conduct patient-specific rehearsal before the final 12-hour operation, mapping the twins’ vascular and neural anatomy in a shared virtual environment.
“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,” said Professor Jeelani, the lead Paediatric Neurosurgeon for the separation of the twins and founder of Gemini Untwined. “Through this, we are making surgeries safer and less invasive, ultimately leading to better results for craniopagus twins while having a wider impact on paediatric 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.”
The case, now documented in a BBC documentary, is the latest in a series of milestone deployments for XRlabs, whose platform has now been used across over one hundred surgical cases on three continents. Through close collaboration with Gemini Untwined and PureHealth SEHA Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, these teams brought together surgical expertise, international coordination, and world-class facilities to achieve this historic result.
About XRlabs
XRlabs is the Surgical Intelligence company advancing the integration of AI into the operating room. Founded by a neurosurgeon and headquartered in London with offices in Palo Alto, XRlabs develops modular, device-agnostic software that embeds AI directly within surgical environments through computer vision and deep learning technologies.
Operating as an external AI layer across surgical systems, XRlabs is defining Surgical Intelligence as a new runtime capability in surgery – designed to integrate with existing medical technologies and enhance intraoperative visualization, awareness and workflow.
Contacts
Media Contact:
[email protected]
