Surgeons at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London have nearly completed a marathon 20-hour surgery to separate Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf of East Cork, Ireland, born in December as conjoined twins. Their parents were told before the birth the two boys might share a heart, but they do not in fact share any major organs.

Links to other sites: Belfast Telegraph, Reuters video

Two boys, Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf, who were born conjoined, left the hospital in Cork, Ireland, to go home to their family, parents Angie and Azzedine and their two older children. The seven-week-old boys, who are joined at the chest, but who do not share any vital organs, are in good health. They will travel to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital to be surgically separated in a few months, reports the Irish Times, which carries a photo released by the family.

First reports are optimistic for two conjoined girls who were separated by a medical team in Melbourne, Australia during 27 hours of surgery. Krishna and Trishna, orphans from Bangladesh who were joined at the head, are doing well, although lead doctor Leo Donnan says they have a long road ahead of them, with risks related to recovering from the surgery but also a 50 percent chance of brain damage and 25 percent chance one of them will die. The girls are 2 years 11 months old. They were living at an orphanage in Bangladesh, where the risk of surgery was considered too great by the organization Children First Foundation, which is helping the girls.

Links to other sites: The Age, Melbourne (video), Times, UK, Royal Children’s Hospital page on the twins’ “incredible journey”