Posted on 10/12/2003 12:05:04 PM PDT by yonif
DALLAS (AP) - After 26 hours in the operating room, pediatric neurosurgeons successfully separated two-year-old Egyptian twins joined at the top of their heads on Sunday.
Doctors at Children's Medical Center Dallas spent the night separating the intricate connection of blood vessels running between the brains of Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim - considered the riskiest part of the operation.
They were separated at 11:17 a.m., hospital officials announced later in a prepared statement.
"They are now within striking distance of living independent lives," said Dr. Jim Thomas, chief of critical care at the hospital.
The next procedure could take as long as six hours and will involve reconstructing their skulls and covering the wounds with skin, Thomas said.
That procedure could take as long as six hours.
Doctors have spent more than a year planning the surgery, which doctors had said could last up to 90 hours. Eighteen doctors were involved, along with 30 to 40 other medical personnel.
Extra skin created by skin expanders inserted in the boys' heads and thighs five months ago will be used to cover the head wounds.
The boys were born June 2, 2001, by caesarean section to Sabah Abu el-Wafa and her husband, Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim.
Dallas-based World Craniofacial Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps children with deformities of the head and face, arranged to bring the boys to Dallas in June 2002 for an evaluation.
A team of specialists determined the boys could be separated, although the risks include possible brain damage and death. The boys' father told doctors he felt it was worth it to give them a chance at a normal life.
The father spent much of the past year in Dallas with the boys before returning to Egypt this summer. He returned this week with his wife and the twins' young brother, Mahmoud.
Thomas said the parents were "doing fine."
"I think the parents are helped in many ways by a very strong faith structure that they have," he said.
"They have said repeatedly to all the parties involved that this is in God's hands."
Egyptian conjoined twins Ahmed, left, and Mohamed Ibrahim have frosting from their second birthday cake on their faces at a Dallas hospital, June 2, 2003. The surgery to separate the twins is scheduled to begin early Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003, at Children's Medical Center of Dallas and is expected to last 18 to 24 hours. (AP Photo/Medical City Hospital, File)
|
|
|
 |
FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
|
|
It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
|
Undated illustration of the conjoined Ibrahim twins' external soft tissue structures, their bone structure and the cranial vasculature (shown in blue). Ahmed (R) and Mohamed Ibrahim (L), who are a little over two years old, will undergo surgery at Children's Medical Center of Dallas, Texas October 11, 2003, and they will be the first twins conjoined at the head to be surgically separated since two Iranian women joined at the head died in a Singapore hospital in July. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY NO SALES REUTERS/Medical Modeling LLC of Golden Colorado/File Handout
Nurses Wafaa Dardig, left and Naglaa Mahmoud look on as physical therapist Sally Fryer applies light pressure to the area where the Egyptian twins Mohamed, left, and Ahmed Ibrahim are conjoined during therapy in Dallas, Sept. 11, 2002. The 15-month-old twins are undergoing physical therapy to better prepare them for surgery. The surgery to separate 2-year-old twins is scheduled to begin early Saturday morning, Oct. 11, 2003, at Children's Medical Center of Dallas and is expected to last 18 to 24 hours.(AP Photo/Ron Heflin, File)
Excellent news! The medical expertice in our "free enterprise system" in the USA does it again! : )
Sadly enough, soon it will read "the United States Bureau of Medicine" lost another patient do to lack of interest in young people becoming Doctors for the lack of personal advancement financially do to government restrictions on Doctor income to help hold the tax structure to less than 70% to maintain the public's confidence in Government.
Then WE will be sending patients abroad for the best health care.
Whew, 26 hours...that is one he!! of a shift to work! I was impressed when I was taken care of in 8 hours!
I pray they don't become suicide bombers.
And now they can carry out twice as many attacks.
Like hell it's not ....
... maybe you should go do a little research on a pedophile founded religion before spouting off propaganda.
No, you are wrong islam is evil. Unless you are a muslim it calls for your en-slavement or murder. In my book it is nothing but evil.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.