USA: 13-MONTH-OLD GERMAN GIRL DIES AFTER LENGTHY OPERATION TO SEPERATE HER FROM HER CONJOINED TWIN

Record ID: 590748

  • Title: USA: 13-MONTH-OLD GERMAN GIRL DIES AFTER LENGTHY OPERATION TO SEPERATE HER FROM HER CONJOINED TWIN
  • Date: 16th September 2004
  • Summary: (W1)BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 16, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF DOCTORS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.04 2. CU: DOCTOR HOLDING A MODEL OF THE TWINS' HEADS 0.23 3. MEDIA MEMBER SNAPPING A PHOTO 0.28 4. SCU: DOCTOR HOLDING ILLUSTRATION OF THE TWINS 0.38 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. BENJAMIN CARSON, PAEDIATRIC NEUROSURGEON, JOHNS HOPKINS CHILDREN'S CENTER, SAYING: "Late in the night, as we were getting close to our objective, Tabea began to have significantly more problems again, in terms of the cardiovascular system, and it became clear that we did not have very much time, so we had to go into emergency mode in order to get them apart at that time. At the time that they were separated there was some significant bleeding, mostly by Lea, not as much by Tabea, but Tabea was experiencing cardiac problems to the extent that active resuscitation was going on at that point. Heroic measures continued for an hour, and it was not possible to really resuscitate that heart at that time." 1.39 6. WS: DOCTORS ANSWERING QUESTIONS FROM MEDIA 1.43 7. BANK OF TELEVISION CAMERAS 1.48 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. CARSON SAYING: "One of the marks of people who make advances is learning from anything that does not go well. And one of the things I would probably do differently in a situation like this is do a cranial expansion first, in which we created more room for their brains. Their brains were very, very pressed together." 2.16 9. SIDE VIEW OF DOCTORS 2.24 10. PAN: EXTERIOR OF JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL 2.37 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 1st October 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA2I0PYISEM8TE8I1ELJB5T5TZE
  • Story Text: A 13-month-old German girl died early on Thursday
    after a lengthy operation to separate her from her
    conjoined twin.


    A 13-month-old German girl died early on Thursday
    (September 16) after a lengthy operation to separate her
    from her conjoined twin, but her sister appears on the way
    to recovery, Johns Hopkins Children's Center said.

    Lea and Tabea Block, from Lemgo, Germany, who were born
    joined at the head, were separated at 12:15 a.m. (0415
    GMT), but Tabea died shortly after the 22-hour surgery from
    a combination of blood loss and heart dysfunction. Lea was
    in critical but stable condition in paediatric intensive
    care after the surgery to separate the blood vessels and
    brain tissue of the twins, and doctors were hopeful she
    would make a full recovery and grow into a healthy young
    girl.

    Dr. Benjamin Carson, the director of paediatric
    neurosurgery who led a team of 100 including doctors,
    nurses and technicians who worked on the procedure, told a
    news conference that Lea was trying to open her eyes and
    moving her extremities. No timetable was set for her
    hospital stay. She is expected to undergo some minor
    cosmetic surgery once she is strong enough before being
    released, doctors said.

    Doctors worked for about an hour to try to resuscitate
    Tabea. "Tabea was experiencing cardiac problems to the
    extent that active resuscitation was going on at that
    point... it was not possible to really resuscitate that
    heart at that time," Carson said in a news conference
    Thursday afternoon (September 16).

    The medical team were 90 percent through the
    painstaking separation of all the veins that joined the
    twins when heart arrhythmia affecting Tabea caused them to
    go into an emergency separation mode. The hospital first
    tried to separate the twins on Saturday, but that operation
    was halted after about 7-1/2 hours after Tabea suffered
    "metabolic complications," according to a statement issued
    by Johns Hopkins Children's Center.


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