2003: Conjoined twins die in separation op
Conjoined Iranian twins who volunteered to go ahead with a major operation to separate them have both died during surgery.Laleh and Ladan Bijani suffered a fatal loss of blood within a couple of hours of each other as surgeons tried to separate their brains.During the marathon three-day operation it became clear that the brains of the 29-year-old sisters had become fused together.Surgeons spent about 21 hours cutting the twins brains apart literally millimetre by millimetre - something they had not expected to have to do.The risks were greatThe two women were separated after 53 hours but half an hour later Ladans circulation began to fail.Despite the efforts of the team of 28 doctors and 100 medical assistants she died.Surgery continued on Laleh but her circulation also dropped away and she died 90 minutes later.The chairman of Raffles Hospital Dr Loo Choon Yong said When we undertook this challenge we knew the risks were great and one of the scenarios was that we might lose both of them.Ladan and Laleh knew that too.The twins were told they only had a 50-50 chance of surviving the operation but decided to go ahead anyway.Ground-breaking procedureThe operation marked the first time surgeons had tried to separate adult twins conjoined at the head.The operation has been successfully performed since 1952 but only on children who recover more easily.German doctors had already turned away the twins in 1996 saying the operation would be too risky.Both Bijani twins were national figures in Iran for their courage and academic success - both graduated after studying law.One of their last acts was to send a message of thanks to well-wishers published on the Raffles Hospital website.Both of us have started on this journey together they wrote and we hope that the operation will finally bring us to the end of this difficult path and that we may begin our new and wonderful lives as two separate persons.
