Maria Teresa Quiej Alvarez, one of two conjoined twins separated earlier this month at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, underwent a scheduled procedure for the final evacuation of an old subdural hematoma that occurred during the initial separation surgery. She is listed in serious condition with stable vital signs and in stable neurological condition.

Maria Teresa underwent a similar procedure Friday, Aug. 16, and on Tuesday, Aug. 6, the afternoon of the initial separation surgery. The 90-minute procedure on Thursday, Aug. 22 allowed doctors to remove blood from a different location in the back of the brain that was too sensitive to address earlier.

Her sister, Maria de Jesus, remains listed in serious condition with stable vital signs in the hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and continues to be alert, active and fully awake.

Doctors remain cautiously optimistic about the long-term prospects for the recovery of both girls.

“Our overall confidence in their long-term prospects for recovery has not changed,� said Dr. Jorge Lazareff, director of pediatric neurosurgery at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA.