|
In
Conversation with
Medicine's Miracle Workers -- Dr Chumpon Chan and Dr
Keith Goh
Telecast Date: 19
April 2001
Producer: Susanna
Kulatissa
Editor's
Note:
This is an edited transcript of the interview.
Dr
Chumpon Chan and Dr Keith Goh, are the neurosurgeons
behind the successful surgery of the 11month-old Siamese
twins, Ganga and Jamuna.
"None
of us could say for sure or with confidence that
we could do it".
Dr
Keith Goh
|
Shankar:
Dr Keith Goh, Dr Chumpon
Chan welcome to In Conversation.
Doctors: Thank you.
Shankar:
So how did you do it?
How did you decide to go ahead with the operations?
 Dr
Keith:
Once we understood the anatomy and that was the key.
Once we understood how these two brains lay opposed
to each other, and of course with how they shared their
blood vascular supply, then we felt we had a reasonable
chance of separating them. But with the provision that
complications could occur because it was a high risk,
it was going to be high-risk separation.
Shankar: So,
are you saying that you weren't entirely confident that
you would be able to come out of the operation and say,
both babies, that there were always a high risks of
something going wrong?
Dr Keith: We were worried all the way. I think
that you know, none of use could say for sure or with
confidence that we could do it. I mean we were terrified
of doing something, which would hurt the two girls.
Shankar: Let
me get into that. You said you were terrified. You said
that you weren't sure. You were facing so much uncertainties.
Finally you take the big decision. You're in the operating
theatre; you set yourselves the time limit. And that
time limit keeps extending, keeps extending. How did
you manage to keep your fears aside and deal with the
delicate process of actually separating those blood
vessels and brain cells and what have you? How did you
do that? Didn't you ever feel that, Oh my God, if my
hands just shake right now. Can I see your hands Dr
Keith?
Dr Keith:I haven't drunk any caffeine so I should
be OK.
Shankar: So
what did you do to keep your hands steady? What did
you do with the blood vessels - if you can show me with
the spared let's say.
Dr Keith: OK the blood vessels I will pass to
Chumpon because he is the vascular expert.
 Dr
Chan: I think there's a lot of things that we need.
We need to build confidence before even we go into the
operation theatre there. So, the first stage is what
we called data accumulation. An experience that we need
to sought from whatever literature or even persons who
are involved in this operation.
Shankar:
Right
Dr
Keith: Which mean that, you know who would have
a skull like a cone-head. Correspondingly in an exact
mirror-imaged, Ganga is the same. Almost the mirror
image of Jamuna.
Dr Chan :Right. This is the other patient's left-brain.
That is the other patient's left-brain.
Dr Keith: It's a mirror-imaged.
Dr Chan: It's just a mirror imaged of that.
Find
out more about the operation >>
|
