Twins in 'truly remarkable shape' after 34 hours of surgery and their first night apart

The Egyptian twins who had been joined at the head since before birth and were separated by doctors in 34 hours of surgery were said yesterday to be in "truly remarkable shape" after their first night apart.

Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim, aged two, were in a drug-induced coma and were breathing using mechanical ventilators. When surgery ended on Sunday afternoon, doctors said that they wanted the boys to rest for the next two or three days.

Dr James Thomas, head of critical care at the Dallas Children's Medical Centre, Texas, said: "They had a very good night. They stayed in good shape. There were no major problems through the course of the evening. It couldn't have been a better night." He said that their blood pressure was stable and their kidney function was "perfect".

While CAT scans have shown minimal swelling of their brains, doctors have stressed that they are still concerned for the boys, who are in a stable but critical condition. Experts say that there is a risk of strokes and infection. There are also concerns about how the wounds will heal. There is the risk of possible brain damage caused by the surgery to separate the intricate connection of blood vessels the boys shared.

The boys' father, Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim, fainted when he heard that the operation was over.

Dr Nasser Abdel Al, who was with the family during the operation, said: "At one point when someone came up and said, 'You have two boys', the father jumped to my neck and he hugged me and he fainted and I cared for him."

Dr Abdel Al, head of neo-natal surgery at the Cairo hospital where the twins were taken shortly after their birth, added: "[The father] told me that he never dreamt of such a moment."

Doctors had been planning the high-risk operation for more than a year and had warned the parents that there was no more than a 10 per cent chance of success.

Concerns had heightened after two conjoined Iranian sisters died during an operation to separate them this summer. Dr Dale Swift, one of the surgeons involved in the Dallas operation, said after the surgery: "We're very pleased with the surgical outcome but the post-surgical care is extremely important - [it] really can determine your outcome. So right now, we're waiting."

In the boys' hometown of al-Homr, 400 miles south of Cairo, family and friends expressed relief. "I've been worrying and praying a lot for my grandsons and I am relieved the surgery to separate them went well," said the twins' grandfather, Mohamed Ibrahim.

Ahmed Abdel Basset, the imam of one of al-Homr's mosques, said: "The hearts of all the villagers are attached to the twins. The villagers all feel the two children are like their sons."

The boys were born on 2 June 2001 by Caesarean section. The World Craniofacial Foundation, an organisation that helps children with deformities of the head and face, arranged to take the twins to Dallas in June 2002 for an evaluation.