Siamese Twins

A team of 18 doctors began a complicated separation surgery Saturday in an attempt to give 2-year-old conjoined twins from Egypt a chance at independent lives. The risks are high: One or both of the boys may die, and even if they survive, some brain damage is possible. "Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim have begun the first stage of their surgery that will physically separate them and -- we all hope -- will give them the opportunity to grow and develop like other brothers," said Dr.

Two-year-old Egyptian twins joined at the top of their heads were separated Sunday but face a long recovery after the marathon surgery that began a day earlier and took more than a year of planning. News of the successful separation of Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim overjoyed their parents, surgeons and caregivers. "At one point, when someone came up and said, 'You have two boys,' the father jumped to my neck and he hugged me and he fainted and I cared for him," said Dr.

Mohamed Ibrahim, one of the former conjoined Egyptian twins, was taken off a ventilator and was breathing on his own a week after doctors successfully separated him from his brother. Mohamed and Ahmed Ibrahim continue to make small gains, including motion in their arms and legs and improved response to verbal cues, according to Children's Medical Center in Dallas. They are in critical but stable condition in the pediatric intensive care unit.

The 2-year-old twins from Egypt who were surgically separated this month were breathing on their own again. Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim, who were born joined at the tops of their heads, were separated in a marathon operation in Dallas that ended Oct. 12. Doctors removed Ahmed's breathing tube for the second time. They had removed the tube Wednesday but replaced it later that day after his throat swelled. Mohamed was put on antibiotics for a fever, but doctors said he was in stable condition.

Surgery to separate 11-month-old twins conjoined at the head and facing opposite directions may be delayed several weeks because of complications from a preliminary procedure performed at UCLA on Monday. Surgeons at Mattel Children's Hospital implanted a silicone balloon under the scalp of each of the Guatemalan-born twins, Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Quiej-Alvarez.

Conjoined twins Maria de Jesus and Maria Teresa Quiej-Alvarez turn 1 today, with a chocolate frosted birthday cake and a pinata in their UCLA hospital room. Surgeons hope that a bigger celebration will be in order in two weeks. Separation surgery has been scheduled for Aug. 5 for the Guatemalan infants, who are joined at the top of the head and face opposite directions.

UCLA Medical Center seeks type O blood donors to prepare for Monday's surgery to separate 1-year-old conjoined twins from Guatemala. Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus Quiej-Alvarez, who are joined at the head, will need 40 units of type O positive or negative blood for transfusion during the procedure, blood center officials said. Donors must be healthy, at least 17 and weigh at least 110 pounds. The UCLA Blood and Platelet Center, at 200 Medical Plaza, Suite 660, is open from 8 a.m. to 3:40 p.m.

After months of preparation, UCLA surgeons worked all day and night Monday to separate conjoined twins from Guatemala, a so-far successful operation expected to continue into this morning. "We've been in a nervous state, hoping that everything will turn out," the twins' father, Wenceslao Quiej-Lopez, said through an interpreter. He joined his wife, Alba Leticia Alvarez, in Los Angeles on Friday night to be with "Las Maritas," (the little Marias) as he calls them.

In a 22-hour operation, a team of UCLA surgeons Tuesday separated 1-year-old twins who had been conjoined at the head, an operation that drew attention from Los Angeles to the infants' hometown in Guatemala. Doctors at UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital said that the surgery went well, but that it will be at least a week before Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus Quiej Alvarez are out of danger. "They're through the critical phase," Dr.

In this tiny impoverished hamlet on Guatemala's lush south coast, dozens of villagers are singing, clapping and praising the Lord for the successful surgery that separated twin baby girls joined at the head. As a church band plays and three preachers take turns celebrating the word of God, people are hugging, holding hands and gathering around the family of the "Maritas"--the little Marias--born to a young banana packer and his wife.