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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, July 07, 2003

Conjoined Iranian Twins' Surgery Begins

Surgeons entered a critical phase Sunday in a dangerous, marathon operation in Singapore as they began separating the brains of 29-year-old Iranian twin sisters joined at the head.


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Surgeons entered a critical phase Sunday in a dangerous, marathon operation in Singapore as they began separating the brains of 29-year-old Iranian twin sisters joined at the head.

The operation, which could take two to four days, could be fatal to the sisters, Ladan and Laleh Bijani.

Late Sunday, surgeons began separating the women's skulls and trying to replace a shared vein that drains blood from their brains. The process involves five neurosurgeons working on both sides of the sisters, who were in a seated position, said a spokesman at Singapore's Raffles Hospital.

"The next 12-24 hours will be a very critical period," Dr. Prem Kumar said. "That might be where we will have to traverse some possible difficulties."

Doctors were using a leg vein from one of the sisters to compensate for the shared vein. The vein is one of the chief obstacles in the surgery: Other than sharing the vein, the women's brains are not joined �� though they touch inside their skulls.

When asked to describe his mood, Dr. Benjamin Carson, the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, said, "Sunshine."

The twins said they wanted to walk into the operating room as a sign of courage, but they were brought in by wheelchair because they were too tired to stand, Kumar said.

After a lifetime of compromises on everything from when to wake up each day to what career to pursue, Ladan and Laleh said they preferred to face the dangers of the surgery rather than continue living joined together.

An international team of 28 doctors and about 100 medical assistants will participate in the surgery.

The Bijani sisters were born in Firouzabad, southern Iran, in 1974. Their heads are connected but their bodies are otherwise distinct.

This is the first time surgeons have tried to separate adult craniopagus twins �� siblings born joined at the head �� since the procedure was first performed successfully in 1952. The surgery has until now been performed on infants whose brains can more easily recover and adapt than adults.

Source: Agencies


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