PARIS: The tragic deaths of Ladan and Laleh Bijani in an operating theatre in Singapore highlight the daunting challenge of separating conjoined twins – an operation where the surgeon's courage is as high as the success rate is low.
Siamese infants happen when an embryo starts to split into identical twins after conception, but for some reason the separation process stops by the end of the second week and the foetus continues to develop, growing into two babies that are fused together.