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L.A. Twins Could Pave Way for Egyptian Conjoined Twins

Aired August 07, 2002 - 11:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are going to get back to talking some more about those twins, an incredible, positive story we have this morning. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta here to tell us more about that.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It has been such an amazing story on all fronts. For the doctors, for the parents, for the kids, no doubt. Twenty-two and half hours to actually separate these two girls. They were connected by the most important organ in the body, certainly the brain, and even more importantly than that, blood vessels sort of inner woven. You can imagine, Leon, a sort of bowl of spaghetti trying -- and these aren't noodles that you can just pick up. You actually have to trace each one back and close them very carefully and slowly, allow the brain to drain the blood on its own. The biggest risk of not doing this procedure, well, obviously is death. But short of that also is stroke, weakness on one side of the body or the other, loss of speech.

Leon, doesn't look like any of those things have happened. We did hear that one of the girls had to go back to the operating room. We have talked about that a bit. That was for a blood collection underneath the outer layer of the brain, called the subdural space. That blood collection, actually, you see there. Actually, when that blood accumulates, it can be a real problem because as it accumulates bigger and bigger, it has nowhere to go accept to push on the brain, and when it does that, that can cause stroke-like symptoms. They probably saw that on Maria Teresa on a CAT scan, and thus rushed her back to the operating room. That is the key to this procedure, getting it done quickly so that no damage has occurred. Now, it looks like both girls are critical but stable, they are doing pretty well.

HARRIS: That's great, that's great. And from what I hear now, doctors may be able to use what this staff has learned on this particular case because there's another case in Dallas?

GUPTA: That's right. It is sort of remarkable. You know, there has only been five of these over the last ten years, but we're following two cases, obviously the one in L.A., also one in Dallas. Two Egyptian boys -- incidentally, conjoined twins 3-1 ratio girls to boys.

These are boys, down in Dallas, and so even more rare than usual. They also have a -- conjoined at the head, which is a very rare phenomenon. And Leon, interestingly, they actually, just short -- along with the science and all the technology trying to figure out how they are going to do this operation, the Egyptian doctor that brought these boys here said, You know what, I am also going to go consult with our religious leaders back in Egypt and he has done just that. And in fact, the religious leaders in Egypt have said they have given their approval, and said they should continue. So that operation is in the planning stages, an extensive planning stages. They have to actually create these three-dimensional models of the brain and the blood vessels, use that information in the operating room.

HARRIS: Are their connections close to the same as the girls or what?

GUPTA: That's what I understand. Very similar. You know, some of the vessels might be, in fact, a little bit more inner connected, even, with the Dallas case. But I think that people were asking does the L.A. case give them some more added enthusiasm, optimism about that, and I think that is the case because first of all, it has been done now. By doctors who had never done it before in L.A. Also, these models are sort of a new thing. They're helping guide the operation. They're expensive models, $10,000 for single one, but really help guide the procedure.

HARRIS: Why 3-1 girls to boys, and does that make a difference in this case?

GUPTA: That's a good question. I tried to do a little bit of research on that, and I don't think it makes a difference, really, because at the head, the operation is going to be very similar. It must have something to do with the way these eggs split. You know, conjoined twins -- basically the eggs splits, but doesn't split enough until 13-14 days after conception. And that's how you get conjoined twins. They are obviously identical twins, but they didn't completely separate.

HARRIS: That is interesting. All right. Good deal.

GUPTA: Good seeing you.

HARRIS: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, appreciate it. All right. Take care.

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