After conjoined Iranian twins died during surgery to separate their brains, the medical world is focused on two Egyptian boys who are joined at the head and likely to be the next pair to undergo the highly risky operation. Two-year-old Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim are joined at the crown of their heads and may have separation surgery as early as the next few months. They cannot stand because of the way their bodies are joined, and the two of them are about six feet in length from the toes of one twin to the toes of the other. Doctors have said the youth of the Egyptian boys in Dallas gives them an advantage of surviving surgery. ‘‘There has been nothing but intensive diagnostic testing and planning for the upcoming surgery,’’ said Sue Blackwood, director of the Dallas-based World Craniofacial Foundation, a charity that is overseeing the operation. The boys share large veins that drain blood out of the brain. They also share some brain material, which could be divided without causing much harm, but if their circulatory systems are not properly separated, it could kill them, doctors say. (Reuters)
