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American Morning

Guatemalan Twins Back at UCLA for Treatment

Aired May 23, 2003 - 08:43   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to this morning's "Paging Dr. Gupta." A setback for the Guatemalan twins who were joined at the head and then separated by doctors at UCLA last summer. The two girls are back in California this morning for additional treatment.
Our resident neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is here to tell us more.

Sanjay, tell us, we know that Maria Theresa has fluid on the brain. What is that, and how bad is it right now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right after the operation, the operation back in August now of last year, she developed some fluid, which is usually a mixture of blood and cerebral spinal fluid. That's the fluid that normally coats the brain and the spinal cord, and that accumulated on top of the brain. It's normally more inside the brain. There is some normal cerebrospinal fluid inside the brain, and when it accumulates on top of the brain, it can actually cause some pressure on the brain. This a drain was placed at that time. This is the drain and valve we're hearing about so much now. That got infected, and had to be replaced. While she was in very grave condition during -- you can see the pictures there. Very cute. But when she was very sick from this infection, they listed her in grave condition. She has rebounded a bit from that, but still in very serious shape there.

COLLINS: Sweet little faces, aren't they? Are you surprised, though, at their current condition?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's sort of an interesting thing. There is not that many of these operations that have ever been done. The particular sort of conjoined twins that these girl were, the two Marias, very rare.

If you take a look at these pictures here, they are sort of hard to make out. These are MRIs of the brain, and what you're actually seeing are the two brains connected. This is, obviously, before the operation. Ten percent of their brain is being shared there. Maybe that is a little bit clearer there. This is before the operation. See that line across the top? That's exactly where the brains were connected at one point. Ten percent of the brain being shared in common is not as much as some of the conjoined twins who have actually survived this. So they still do have a reasonable chance of having a good outcome in terms of their brain function. Obviously, these setbacks, fluid on the brain, infections, meningitis, seizures, these are the sort of problems that both of the girls are having right now. COLLINS: So then it begs the question, when doctors performed this surgery, they were really optimistic about their chances of survival. Would you say that has changed?

GUPTA: I'd say the optimism is still there, but it's going to be a very long road. These sorts of infections are serious. Meningitis is obviously a serious problem. When you actually have an infection of a drain, a piece of foreign body that's outside the brain, that's a more serious problem. The fact she still needs to have these drains and all the sort of thing, I guess for 10 months now or later from the operation is still obviously a problem. The parents are not here yet. We're going to obviously hear a little bit more information from the hospital and from the parents when they do arrive to Los Angeles, but I think it's going to be a long road. Still a good chance they could catch up, they still recover from all of this, but it's going to be a long road for them.

COLLINS: Yes, their little bodies are going to have keep fighting really hard.

GUPTA: Not even 2 years old yet.

COLLINS: I know. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for the update on that.

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 May 23, 2003 - 08:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to this morning's "Paging Dr. Gupta." A setback for the Guatemalan twins who were joined at the head and then separated by doctors at UCLA last summer. The two girls are back in California this morning for additional treatment.
Our resident neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is here to tell us more.

Sanjay, tell us, we know that Maria Theresa has fluid on the brain. What is that, and how bad is it right now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, right after the operation, the operation back in August now of last year, she developed some fluid, which is usually a mixture of blood and cerebral spinal fluid. That's the fluid that normally coats the brain and the spinal cord, and that accumulated on top of the brain. It's normally more inside the brain. There is some normal cerebrospinal fluid inside the brain, and when it accumulates on top of the brain, it can actually cause some pressure on the brain. This a drain was placed at that time. This is the drain and valve we're hearing about so much now. That got infected, and had to be replaced. While she was in very grave condition during -- you can see the pictures there. Very cute. But when she was very sick from this infection, they listed her in grave condition. She has rebounded a bit from that, but still in very serious shape there.

COLLINS: Sweet little faces, aren't they? Are you surprised, though, at their current condition?

GUPTA: Well, you know, it's sort of an interesting thing. There is not that many of these operations that have ever been done. The particular sort of conjoined twins that these girl were, the two Marias, very rare.

If you take a look at these pictures here, they are sort of hard to make out. These are MRIs of the brain, and what you're actually seeing are the two brains connected. This is, obviously, before the operation. Ten percent of their brain is being shared there. Maybe that is a little bit clearer there. This is before the operation. See that line across the top? That's exactly where the brains were connected at one point. Ten percent of the brain being shared in common is not as much as some of the conjoined twins who have actually survived this. So they still do have a reasonable chance of having a good outcome in terms of their brain function. Obviously, these setbacks, fluid on the brain, infections, meningitis, seizures, these are the sort of problems that both of the girls are having right now. COLLINS: So then it begs the question, when doctors performed this surgery, they were really optimistic about their chances of survival. Would you say that has changed?

GUPTA: I'd say the optimism is still there, but it's going to be a very long road. These sorts of infections are serious. Meningitis is obviously a serious problem. When you actually have an infection of a drain, a piece of foreign body that's outside the brain, that's a more serious problem. The fact she still needs to have these drains and all the sort of thing, I guess for 10 months now or later from the operation is still obviously a problem. The parents are not here yet. We're going to obviously hear a little bit more information from the hospital and from the parents when they do arrive to Los Angeles, but I think it's going to be a long road. Still a good chance they could catch up, they still recover from all of this, but it's going to be a long road for them.

COLLINS: Yes, their little bodies are going to have keep fighting really hard.

GUPTA: Not even 2 years old yet.

COLLINS: I know. All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for the update on that.

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