Iranian Twins Die After Separation Surgery:

“Neurosurgeons separated 29-year-old Iranian twins joined at the head Tuesday after two days of delicate surgery, but both sisters died shortly after their parting.

The hospital announced Ladan Bijani’s death, then, a few hours later, a nurse involved in the surgery said her sister Lelah had died.

‘Everyone upstairs is crying,’ said the nurse, speaking on condition of anonymity. ‘We treated them like family because they had been here for seven months.’ “

The cause of their deaths appears to have been blood loss and hemodynamic instability.

“This is the first time surgeons have tried to separate adult craniopagus twins — siblings born joined at the head. The surgery has been performed successfully since 1952 on infants, whose brains can more easily recover.” NY Times