Conjoined twins to be separated in Ohio

Doctors are preparing to separate twin 3-year old girls, Tatiana and Anastasia Dogaru, who were born joined together at the head. The girls were brought to Dallas from Italy two and a half years ago by the World Cranial Foundation to be assessed for surgery. Craniopagus twins (twins joined at the head) are very rare and occur roughly in 1 in 2.5 million births. Doctors say that the girls can not live much longer as they are; however, there are many risks involved in the separation. The family will go to Cleveland in April, where a group of doctors will perform the surgery. The operation will be performed in stages because there are many risks. The girls share many blood vessels and Anastasia has no kidney function and relies on her sister's kidneys. The twins only share a small amount of brain tissue. The doctors will use skin expanders to make sure there is enough skin to cover the brain after the operation is over. I found this article to be interesting because it is such a complicated physiological problem for the doctors to solve so that both twins can survive.