CORRECTS Australia-Conjoined Twins story

Associated Press

Last update: November 16, 2009 - 2:03 AM

(Stations: Please substitute the following for V4054, slugged Australia-Conjoined Twins, which moved at 8:33 p.m. Eastern time and the corresponding Right Now items in V4080, V4164, V4248, V4292 and V4346. The new version CORRECTS age to 2 sted 3.)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian neurosurgeons have begun a complicated surgery to separate twin sisters who are joined at the top of the head.

The Bangladeshi 2-year-olds, Trishna and Krishna, share parts of their skull, brain tissue and blood flow.

Plastic surgeon Tony Holmes said at the beginning of the operation Monday that the chance of a successful separation was 25 percent.

There is a 50 percent chance that the girls will suffer brain damage and a 25 percent chance that one of the sisters will die.

Surgeons expect the operation to take at least 16 hours.

The orphaned girls were brought to Australia two years ago by the Children First Foundation and have undergone a number of operations already in preparation for separation.

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