Surgery separates conjoined twins

MELBOURNE, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Formerly conjoined Bangladeshi twins spent the night in separate beds after 31 1/2 hours of surgery to separate them at an Australia hospital, officials said.

Trishna and Krishna, orphans who turn 3 next month, were joined at the head and shared a skull, blood vessels and brain tissue before the surgery and reconstruction by 16 surgeons and nurses, the Melbourne Herald Sun reported Tuesday.

The girls remained unconscious in serious but stable condition in intensive care at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne.

"To see them as separate human beings is a pretty amazing moment," said Dr. Leo Donnan, the chief surgeon. "The moment of separation is a rather surreal moment."

He said it would be a "long time" before doctors know whether the twins suffered brain damage.

After the separation, crano-facial surgeons reconstructed the girls' skulls using their own skin, bone grafts and artificial materials.

Trishna and Krishna will be sedated and on ventilators at least several days, until doctors are confident it's safe to wake them.

Doctors said there is a 25 percent chance one of the girls would die. The twins have a 25 percent chance of emerging from the operation unharmed and a 50 percent chance they will be brain-damaged.

They were discovered in an orphanage in Bangladesh in 2007, and the Children First Foundation brought them to Australia.