The Hindu : Surgery to separate twins begins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 07, 2003

International

International - Globescan

Surgery to separate twins begins

SINGAPORE: An unprecedented operation to separate the Iranian twin sisters, Ladan and Laleh Bijani, joined at the head since they were born 29 years ago, was continuing on Sunday, with doctors refusing to provide details of the potentially fatal surgery. Led by the Singapore neurosurgeon, Keith Goh, 24 doctors and about 100 medical staff were performing the surgery to separate the women that was expected to take about 48 hours. ``It's been about six-and-a-half hours. They were wheeled into the operating theatre at 10 a.m.,'' an official at the Raffles Hospital here said. No further details on the surgery, which could kill one or both of the twins or leave them in a vegetative state, were available at this stage, the official said. The sisters were wheeled into the operating room and placed under anaesthesia, the hospital said in an earlier statement. The women, both law school graduates, were in high spirits when they went in for magnetic resonance imaging tests in the morning, accompanied by a group of seven close friends who had gathered at the hospital (in the picture, a friend kisses the twins before the operation). — AFP

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