Conjoined twins die following separation attempt

Conjoined Iranian twins who underwent high-risk surgery - and the chance of leading separate lives - have both died after a team of surgeons were unable to save them during a two-day surgical marathon.

A team of 28 specialists and 100 support staff were involved in the radical 50-hour surgical procedure, undertaken in Singapore, on 29-year-old twins Laleh and Ladan Bijani who were joined at the head and shared a common skull cavity.

Although initial signs were hopeful, the procedure’s complexity increased enormously when it was unexpectedly discovered that parts of the brains were more substantially fused than was first thought.

Dr Loo Choon Yong, the chair of Raffles Hospital, said that the first twin to die was Ladan, who succumbed to blood loss as the surgery entered a critical phase after separation was completed at around 13.30 pm on Tuesday. Her twin Laleh died an hour-and-a-half later.

He said that on Monday evening complications set in when an arterial bypass became blocked. Doctors gave the next of kin two options: either to stop surgery and attempt to stabilise the twin’s condition in intensive care with the risk of infection; or to continue with what had become a very much higher risk procedure and attempt to separate the brain tissue.

Dr Loo said the surgical team were informed that Laden and Laleh’s wishes were that they were to be separated.

Surgery on the twins continued following the creation of an additional arterial shunt. Although they were eventually separated, both later succumbed to circulatory failure despite massive blood transfusions as surgeons struggled to save their lives.

Dr Loo said that he wished for better news, but that there was only so much that could be humanly done. He expressed his sympathies to the Bijani family circle.

(SP)