DALLAS — Twin girls joined at the head have overcome long odds, but the doctor who brought them to the United States to be evaluated for surgery now says there is no longer any chance they will ever lead separate lives.
Anastasia and Tatiana Dogaru, who will be 5 in January, were born in Rome to Romanian parents. The top of Tatiana’s head is attached to the back of Anastasia’s, meaning the girls have never looked each other in the eye.
Tatiana has had to undergo heart surgery. Anastasia has no kidney function and relies on Tatiana’s kidneys.
However, the twins have become smart, active girls, said Dr. Kenneth Salyer, chairman and founder of the Dallas-based nonprofit World Craniofacial Foundation. Still, their long-term prognosis is uncertain. “They’re troupers, and they may be with us a long time, God willing,” Salyer said.
Physicians at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland had hoped to separate the girls, but that surgery was deemed too dangerous and was called off in August 2007.
Still, Salyer, whose foundation brought the girls to Dallas when they were babies, had kept up hope that separation might still be possible.
But no longer.
“We have finally decided that it’s in these girls’ best interest that they remain like they are, and that’s really hard for me to say because I’ve been optimistic about separation,” Salyer told The Associated Press this month.
He said attempts to find other medical centers to take the case were unsuccessful after the Ohio operation was called off. In addition, other complications arose as the twins grew older.
One girl’s brain is growing into the other’s, making surgery impossible. Also, their brains’ ability to recover from a separation surgery has diminished.
Twins born joined at the head — known as craniopagus twins — occur about once in every 2.5 million births.
The family now lives in the Chicago area, where Alin Dogaru, a Byzantine Rite Catholic priest, has accepted an assignment at a parish.
Although they are doing well now, the girls’ future is uncertain because of their complicated connection. Besides their joined brains, they also share blood vessels and don’t have enough venous drainage, Salyer said.
“They don’t have normal systems,” Salyer said. “All of the medical issues in total, you can’t say how these children are going to do.”
