GNS Conjoined twins separated successfully
1. Exterior Gemelli Hospital 2. People at hospital entrance 3. News conference 4. Media 5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Professor Concezio Di Rocco, addressing news conference in Italian: "The cranial membranes developed together in the first days of life, this deformity happened on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of gestation of the ovum, so they had nine months in the uterus linked together, their brains were linked together and sharing blood vessels." 6. Image on screen of model showing the way in which the twins were conjoined 7. Doctor showing picture from medical publication depicting manner in which twins were conjoined 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Professor Concezio Di Rocco, Surgeon: "The ability to perform all the investigation without intubating the children was very, very important and we could perform the sound preparatory analysis without necessitating anaesthesia which decreased the risk of the operation itself." 9. Three slides on screen of model showing the crania of the twins before separation 10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Professor Concezio Di Rocco, Surgeon: "The family are obviously very happy and giving thanks to God for the new situation they have now. They were very brave in accepting the operation, the babies arrived just wednesday and on Friday we decided to perform the operation right away." 11. Television cameras 12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Professor Concezio Di Rocco, Surgeon: "This morning I can say that their condition is perfect, the babies did not have any problems in the last forty-eight hours, so we have decided to bring them to our normal floor, they don't need any kind of special assistance any more." 13. Media in corridor crowding around Professor Concezio Di Rocco STORYLINE A pair of four month old conjoined twins are said to be making a good recovery after a thirteen hour operation to separate them was carried out successfully in Rome. The twins, referred to at a hospital news conference only as 'A' and 'B', are believed to be baby girls from northern Greece. They were born on June 13 this year joined at the forehead but with separate brains and eyes. The babies arrived at Gemelli Hospital, part of the Catholic Sacred Heart University, on October 8 and were operated on the following day. Professor Concezio Di Rocco, who headed the surgical team, decided to operate without delay fearing respiratory infections common in infants could upset plans for the complex surgical procedure. Di Rocco told APTN it was no coincidence that two operations to separate the twins had been carried out almost on the same day, one in Texas and another in Rome, and said major advances in infantile neuro-surgery were allowing doctors to carry out this kind of procedure with far less risk than in the past. A doctor from Greece who accompanied the twins to Rome was present throughout the surgery. Hospital officials are keeping the family's identity a secret, but said the parents of the twins are staying in a residential part of the sprawling Gemelli Hospital and that all costs have been covered by funds from a voluntary association working together with the hospital. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/655cc295dca2e279a0ae18c0ee35456d Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork