Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Doctors Optimistic About How Little Girls Will Proceed in Future

Aired August 07, 2002 - 08:32   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: We're still tracking the latest on the conjoined twins out of the L.A. No official statement just yet on how the formerly conjoined twins are doing. The doctors told us last hour they're very optimistic about how the little girls will proceed in the future. That's our House Call, part of it anyway, today. Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with us.

Sanjay, good morning. Good to see you, my friend.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.

HEMMER: I have two very naive questions for you. I don't know the answers to this, but it has been said that the girls will be heavily sedated for days, possibly even beyond that, maybe a week, or even longer. Are there problems or concerns with two girls who have gone through such a traumatic surgery one year in age. Is there problems there with that sedation, or not?

GUPTA: Well, it's a pretty common thing after large operations like this, to keep them sedated, mainly for pain control. You don't want the girls waking up and certainly being in a lot of pain. Also, they have head wraps on, they have these new incisions on the back of their head. They don't want them actually pulling at those, pushing on those, anything like that. So sedation for that long is not uncommon. During that time, they'll probably need to stay on the ventilator, because sometimes, that sedation can actually slow down the breathing, keeping them on their ventilator. All those things, not unusual, not unexpected after an operation of that length.

HEMMER: Also, the doctors, these guys have been up for days, it appears. Is there a danger for doctors, in their mental or physical capacity, knowing the delicacy that is involved in an operation like this? How does a doctor approach it, how do they stay alert, and are there dangers in that, Sanjay?

GUPTA: I think that's a very fair question, Bill. No doubt, that was a long time. The doctors planned this operation for many weeks, months in advance. And there were teams of doctors, so they actually were able to get out and stretch for a while. Dr. Lazareff did mention that he was awake the entire time, on his feet the entire time, present during the operation. One could argue that after 24 hours, for example, certainly your technical skills do go down a certain extent. They were almost there, 22 1/2 hours, certainly a long time.

But I'll tell you another thing, being a neurosurgeon, that's something that we do. That's something we're used to. We do long operations, 22 hours is long, but 12 hours, 15 hours is not that unusual, so this is a little longer than that, but certainly a marathon.

HEMMER: You know, I got to tell you, you mention you're a neurosurgeon, I know you're in the operating room at least once a week, and listening to you yesterday, I was just fascinated. Your knowledge on this topic is so deep.

GUPTA: Thank you.

HEMMER: As you gauge this situation right now, Sanjay, what do you see as the most -- probably the more critical points right now to be watching as a doctor?

GUPTA: No doubt, they're in critical condition, Bill, and that's more than just a term. Critical but stable means that while they're not changing overall in how they look overall, they could change in a hurry. That's why they're in an ICU, that's why they're on a ventilator, and that's why they have a lot of people watching after them. I think these next few days, bleeding is the biggest concern still. We saw that once with Maria Teresa going back to the operating room. It's still a concern for the next few days, for sure. After that, it's sort of assessing them, to see how well did they wake up? Do they have any subtle signs of stroke? Are they moving everything well? Do they speak like they used to? Are they able to regulate everything as normal human beings should?

Everything looks favorable. Dr. Lazareff, as you mentioned, Bill, very optimistic, and very upbeat last night and this morning when you spoke to him.

HEMMER: We wish them the best of luck. Let's talk quickly about West Nile Virus, and there are a lot of questions here. We've talked about it off an on for weeks now. If someone is out there, concerned about this, what symptoms should they be on the lookout for?

GUPTA: It's very clear -- and you know, certainly, West Nile Virus, first of all, something in this country now here to stay. So people should be on the lookout for stuff, especially if they're in mosquito-ridden areas. Most people won't have any symptoms at all. Only 1 percent do. But of the 1 percent that do, mild signs of symptoms might be sort of flu-like symptoms, things associated with the flu. You could have fever, you might have rash, you might have aches, things like that.

Of the people that do develop severe symptoms, only 1 percent of people who have symptoms will have severe symptoms, and those are the encephalitis-type symptoms, Bill, that we've been hearing so much about -- high fever, nick stiffness, disorientation, coma, even paralysis. That all pointing to an infection of the brain, and that's something of no doubt concern, particularly concerning because they don't really know how to treat this virus, per se. They know how to diagnose it, they know how to treat meningitis, but not this virus, per se.

Give us some advice on how you avoid it? What are they saying in Louisiana? What are they saying in more than 30 states, just about everything east of the continental divide virtually?

GUPTA: That's right, and certainly it's both a community responsibility, as well as an individual responsibility. Controlling those mosquitoes is a community responsibility. You are hearing a lot about that. As far as individuals, you have to keep them out of your house, and that's an important point, get rid of pools of stagnant water, you know, inside inner-tubes of tires, pools that have been sitting for a long time, long clothing, especially a dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes tend to be outside, and wear a mosquito repellent with deet in it.

Let's me say a few words about deet. That's a term that we throw around a lot. Mosquitoes are actually attracted to the carbon dioxide being released from your nose and your mouth. That's what they're attracted to, and they'll come close to that. So if you actually take deet, which is a chemical which actually ward off mosquitoes, put it all over your body, reapply it only every few hours, if you need to, and don't to use deet with a concentration higher than 35 percent.

HEMMER: It's the carbon dioxide, huh? The first time I ever heard that one.

GUPTA: That's what they're attracted to, right.

HEMMER: Well, the elderly and senior certainly have to be on the lookout. And they're saying in Louisiana it's already the first week of August, so it portends for a nasty month in the weeks to come here.

Thank you, Sanjay. Talk to you again soon in our House Call.

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