Once-conjoined twins leave hospital on birthday eve

MELBOURNE: Formerly conjoined twin sisters Trishna and Krishna were discharged from an Australian hospital yesterday, five weeks after their separation surgery and just in time to celebrate their third birthday.

Doctors said the Bangladeshi-born girls had made amazing progress since the Nov. 17 surgery and were already using walkers to move around the hospital. The girls had been joined at the top of their heads and shared brain tissue and blood vessels before their separation in a 30-hour operation.

"I look forward to seeing them live a long and happy life; that's my wish for them," neurosurgeon Wirginia Maixner said in a statement released by the Royal Children's Hospital.