SINGAPORE: OFFICIALS EXPRESS PLEASURE WITH THE INITIAL PROGRESS OF AN UNPRECEDENTED HIGH RISK OPERATION TO SEPARATE ADULT IRANIAN SISTERS JOINED AT THE HEAD
Record ID:
647116
SINGAPORE: OFFICIALS EXPRESS PLEASURE WITH THE INITIAL PROGRESS OF AN UNPRECEDENTED HIGH RISK OPERATION TO SEPARATE ADULT IRANIAN SISTERS JOINED AT THE HEAD
- Title: SINGAPORE: OFFICIALS EXPRESS PLEASURE WITH THE INITIAL PROGRESS OF AN UNPRECEDENTED HIGH RISK OPERATION TO SEPARATE ADULT IRANIAN SISTERS JOINED AT THE HEAD
- Date: 6th July 2003
- Summary: (U2) SINGAPORE (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS: CONJOINED TWINS ENTER NEWS CONFERENCE 0.09 2. WS: TWINS SEATED AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.14 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) LADAN AND LALEH BIJANI SAYING: "We hope the upcoming surgery will be successful. And we feel happy, excited and a little bit nervous. Especially me." 0.30 4. VARIOUS: TWINS GETTING UP AND LEAVING NEWS CONFERENCE 0.46 (U2) SINGAPORE (JULY 6, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 5. VARIOUS: INTERIOR OF RAFFLES HOSPITAL AND PAN TO MEDIA SURROUNDING DOCTOR PREM KUMAIR NAIR 0.53 6. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR PREM KUMAIR NAIR, GENERAL MANAGER OF CORPORATE SERVICES, RAFFLES MEDICAL GROUP, SAYING: "The twins, who stayed up throughout the night chatting with the nurses, were wheeled in for their MRI and CT scans at 08:35 am." 1.06 7. GV: MEDIA SURROUNDING DR NAIR 1.11 8. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOCTOR PREM KUMAIR NAIR, GENERAL MANAGER OF CORPORATE SERVICES, RAFFLES MEDICAL GROUP, SAYING: "Special lines to monitor various vital signs have been placed on the twins. Within the next few minutes, the first cut will be made on the twins." 1.29 9. WS/LV: MEDIA SURROUNDING DR NAIR 1.33 (W5) SINGAPORE (JULY 6, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 10. WS: OF NEWS CONFERENCE BY DR. PREM KUMAR NAIR, GENERAL MANAGER OF CORPORATE SERVICES AT RAFFLES MEDICAL GROUP 1.38 11. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. NAIR SAYING: "At 8:15p.m., which is just a short while ago, Professor Walter Tan and the plastic and reconstructive team have embarked on the next stage of the operation, by peeling back the twin's scalp, which is the skin covering the skull bone. When that is done, the neurosurgeons will take over. Just to give you a guide, the neurosurgical separation of the conjoined twins is likely to last for at least the next 12 hours." 2.10 12. GV/PAN: NEWS CONFERENCE SCENE 2.19 13. MV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR. NAIR SAYING: "I would say they're pretty much going according to plan and we are quite pleased about the progress of the surgery." 2.25 14. MLV: CAMERAMEN AND PHOTOGRAPHERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 2.30 15. VARIOUS: STILL PHOTOGRAPHS OF SURGERY/ TWIN'S COLLEAGUE KISSING THEM BEFORE SURGERY 3.36 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 21st July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SINGAPORE
- Country: Singapore
- Reuters ID: LVA9B2BMXL5RIXQCVCC1VUTURQSQ
- Story Text: Hospital officials in Singapore have said they are
pleased with the initial progress of an unprecedented,
high-risk operation to separate adult Iranian sisters joined
at the head.
Law graduates Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29, had undergone
tests and counselling since November and say they are willing
to risk death for the chance to lead separate lives.
"We hope the upcoming surgery will be successful. And we
feel happy, excited and a little bit nervous," said the twins.
The operation, led by neurosurgeon Dr Keith Goh, is
expected to last at least 48 hours. Doctors say the operation
is possible because they have anatomically separate brains.
"Special lines to monitor various vital signs have been
placed on the twins. Within the next few minutes, the first
cut will be made on the twins," said Doctor Prem Kumair Nair,
General Manager of Corporate Services for Raffles Medical
Group on Sunday (July 6).
Goh is being assisted by Dr Walter Tan, a plastic surgeon,
and Dr Ben Carson, director of paediatric neurosurgery at
Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
Carson successfully separated twin boys joined at the head
in Germany in 1987 and six-month-old twin girls in 1997.
Goh was part of the team that successfully separated
11-month-old Nepali girls Jamuna and Ganga Shrestha, joined at
the head, in a four-day operation in April 2001.
French radiologist Pierre Lasjaunias from the Centre
Hospitalier de Bicetre said late on Saturday that all steps
that could be taken to secure the twins' safety had been
taken.
"Most of the security that could be achieved has been
achieved in the past few weeks and today (Saturday)," he said,
"...now the journey has to go on."
The operation has raised the ethical questions surrounding
high-risk surgery when a life is not at risk.
But only a few hours later Dr. Prem Kumar Nair, General
Manager of Corporate Services for Raffles Medical Group, told
a news conference that the operation was about to go into its
neurosurgical stage.
"At 8:15p.m., which is just a short while ago, Professor
Walter Tan and the plastic and reconstructive team have
embarked on the next stage of the operation, by peeling back
the twin's scalp, which is the skin covering the skull bone.
When that is done, the neurosurgeons will take over. Just to
give you a guide, the neurosurgical separation of the
conjoined twins is likely to last for at least the next 12
hours."
Dr Nair said the medical team was pleased with the
progress of the operation so far.
"I would say they're pretty much going according to plan
and we are quite pleased about the progress of the surgery,"
he said.
The surgery began on Sunday morning (July 6) after the
twins had undergone scans and tests.
Twins joined at the head occur only once in every two
million live births, and successful separation is even rarer.
Singapore doctors performed the operation in 2001 on
infant girls from Nepal, but experts say an operation on adult
twins is unprecedented.
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