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American Morning

Separated Twins

Aired October 15, 2003 - 07:46   ET

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

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


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors in Dallas say 2-year-old twin boys Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim, surgically separated this past weekend, are recovering well -- some say remarkably well. They expect soon to be able to bring the boys out of their drug-induced coma.
Dr. James Thomas, director of critical care at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, is back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Nice to see you again, Doctor. Good morning to you.

DR. JAMES THOMAS, CRITICAL CARE DIRECTOR, CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning to you.

HEMMER: How are they doing?

THOMAS: They continue to do extremely well. They had another quiet night. And, in fact, they've both gone to get their morning head CT scans in anticipation of possibly lifting the drug-induced coma later this morning.

HEMMER: How strong is that possibility, Doctor?

THOMAS: I don't want to prejudice the decisions of the other team, the team that's taking care of this, but based on, you know, past performance, it looks like a pretty good possibility.

HEMMER: Is this surprising you the progress right now, or is this on track, would you say?

THOMAS: This is on track. This is what we had hoped for, but oftentimes it doesn't -- things don't go as quickly as you'd like them to go. But this is really -- they're on pace.

HEMMER: Yes, Doctor, two days ago you told me the No. 1 concern is infection. How is that front today?

THOMAS: We still see no evidence whatsoever of infection, but continue to be concerned about it simply because of the long suture lines that the patients have and the number of indwelling foreign bodies that are present.

HEMMER: What can you tell us in terms of measuring the potential for brain damage at this point? Can you tell us much?

THOMAS: Not much. They're not doing anything neurologically right now because they're still in that drug-induced coma. We have almost no way of assessing their neurologic function at this time. HEMMER: About a year ago, the Guatemalan twins, who were separated, you know the case quite well. It is said now more than a year later that at least one is doing much better than the other in terms of strength and growth. Does that strike you as, I guess, familiar in a case like these?

THOMAS: Well, my understanding is in the case of the Guatemalan twins, one of them developed a fungal infection around the brain, and that that led to impaired development subsequently. So, it was precisely the thing that we're worried about -- an infection -- that led to the different outcomes of the two Guatemalan twins. And that's why we're so vigilante about the development of infection in these boys.

HEMMER: Yes, if you lighten the sedation throughout the morning, does that mean they completely come out, or is this something that will take days to perform?

THOMAS: What we will do is we'll lighten the sedation, as you've said correctly. And what happens is these drugs have a long half- life, and so it takes awhile for them to be eliminated from the body. So, what we'll see is over the course of time, hours to a day or so, a gradual return of some of the neurologic function that they have.

HEMMER: Good luck to you and your team. Thank you, Dr. James Thomas...

THOMAS: Thank you.

HEMMER: ... from Dallas, Texas with us again with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired October 15, 2003 - 07:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Doctors in Dallas say 2-year-old twin boys Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim, surgically separated this past weekend, are recovering well -- some say remarkably well. They expect soon to be able to bring the boys out of their drug-induced coma.
Dr. James Thomas, director of critical care at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, is back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

Nice to see you again, Doctor. Good morning to you.

DR. JAMES THOMAS, CRITICAL CARE DIRECTOR, CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER: Good morning to you.

HEMMER: How are they doing?

THOMAS: They continue to do extremely well. They had another quiet night. And, in fact, they've both gone to get their morning head CT scans in anticipation of possibly lifting the drug-induced coma later this morning.

HEMMER: How strong is that possibility, Doctor?

THOMAS: I don't want to prejudice the decisions of the other team, the team that's taking care of this, but based on, you know, past performance, it looks like a pretty good possibility.

HEMMER: Is this surprising you the progress right now, or is this on track, would you say?

THOMAS: This is on track. This is what we had hoped for, but oftentimes it doesn't -- things don't go as quickly as you'd like them to go. But this is really -- they're on pace.

HEMMER: Yes, Doctor, two days ago you told me the No. 1 concern is infection. How is that front today?

THOMAS: We still see no evidence whatsoever of infection, but continue to be concerned about it simply because of the long suture lines that the patients have and the number of indwelling foreign bodies that are present.

HEMMER: What can you tell us in terms of measuring the potential for brain damage at this point? Can you tell us much?

THOMAS: Not much. They're not doing anything neurologically right now because they're still in that drug-induced coma. We have almost no way of assessing their neurologic function at this time. HEMMER: About a year ago, the Guatemalan twins, who were separated, you know the case quite well. It is said now more than a year later that at least one is doing much better than the other in terms of strength and growth. Does that strike you as, I guess, familiar in a case like these?

THOMAS: Well, my understanding is in the case of the Guatemalan twins, one of them developed a fungal infection around the brain, and that that led to impaired development subsequently. So, it was precisely the thing that we're worried about -- an infection -- that led to the different outcomes of the two Guatemalan twins. And that's why we're so vigilante about the development of infection in these boys.

HEMMER: Yes, if you lighten the sedation throughout the morning, does that mean they completely come out, or is this something that will take days to perform?

THOMAS: What we will do is we'll lighten the sedation, as you've said correctly. And what happens is these drugs have a long half- life, and so it takes awhile for them to be eliminated from the body. So, what we'll see is over the course of time, hours to a day or so, a gradual return of some of the neurologic function that they have.

HEMMER: Good luck to you and your team. Thank you, Dr. James Thomas...

THOMAS: Thank you.

HEMMER: ... from Dallas, Texas with us again with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.