Operation to separate Siamese twins is complete in Singapore

Surgeons have succeeded in a marathon operation to separate conjoined twin girls from Nepal, a hospital spokeswoman in Singapore has announced. The operation lasted more than 80 hours and was carried out by teams of surgeons working in shifts. Both 11-month-old babies were said to be in a stable condition and receiving attention from plastic surgeons. The twins, Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha, were joined at the top of their heads and shared the same brain cavity, causing them to face away from each other. But this meant they also shared some blood vessels - all of which had to be traced and separated. They had to be split to survive and have the chance of a normal life. The two teams of doctors involved in the operation began their work at 1600 local time (0800 GMT) on Friday. The paediatric neurosurgeon in charge of the separation, Keith Goh, said only four operations of this kind had been performed before - and only one of them successfully. In this case, however, he said there was good potential for recovery, BBC reports. A hospital statement said the complex interconnection of blood vessels required "a meticulous and paced disconnection, in order to allow time for the brains to adapt". Since the twins arrived in Singapore from Nepal last October, doctors have been rehearsing the procedure by performing virtual surgery with the aid of computer technology.