Doctors seek help to separate Siamese twins

Egyptian doctors are seeking international medical help to separate two Siamese twins joined at the head.

Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed are six months old and share a small part of their brain, according to Dr Nasser Abdel Al, the head of the neo-natal surgical intensive care unit in Abu el-Reesh hospital, Cairo.

The twins, who are both healthy and alert, were born by Caesarean section to a labourer and his wife in the southern Egyptian town of Qus, near Luxor.

‘‘Their rarity is because they are joined at the skull and at the brain, and this constitutes the difficulty and peculiarity of the condition,’’ Abdel Al said.

‘‘We are hoping, by international cooperation and by international consultation to reach the proper date and proper procedure and the proper place where they are going to be separated.’’ Abdel Al said.

No date has been set for the operation, but it is unlikely to take place before two months, when their heads will be more developed. The operation could occur outside Egypt.

Earlier this year, a team of doctors in Singapore separated two Siamese twin girls from Nepal who were joined at the head.

The 100-hour operation was considered a landmark.