Siamese twin fights for life

The surviving member of joined-at-the-head Siamese twins separated in an emergency operation was fighting for her life today as her family mourned the loss of her sister.

Alyssa Nolan was in a critical condition at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia, after undergoing a 20-hour operation over the weekend to separate her from her sister, Bethany. Bethany, who had heart trouble and other complications, died during the operation.

The twins were born on May 3 and doctors had planned to wait up to a year before attempting to separate them, but were forced to operate after Bethany suffered cardiac failure on Friday and was close to death.

Professor Alan Isles, who oversaw the operation, said it was impossible to make any predictions about Alyssa’s chances of survival.

‘‘At the moment, we are just taking it hour by hour,’’ Isles said.

‘‘There are a lot of potential problems in these first few days and we can’t afford to take a long-term view.’’

Isles said Alyssa could face infection and haemorrhaging and if she survives, she will require bone grafts to her skull.

The Nolan twins were the second set of Siamese twins joined at the head to be born at the same hospital in the past year - a highly unusual coincidence.

Siamese twins occur in about one in every 150,000 to 200,000 births, but those joined at the head are estimated to occur only one in every five million births.