Doctors at Shanghai East Hospital said they will push ahead with surgery to separate a pair of co-joined twin boys although their "situation is far more complicated than originally thought."

Hospital officials announced the decision after local expects and German specialists examined the boys on Saturday. The infants arrived in the city last Tuesday.

"The malformation is more serious than we had assumed and it will surely be an operation involving great difficulties," said Fan Huimin, a heart surgeon at Shanghai East Hospital.

He said the original surgery plan would not change but he would not provide the exact date of the operation.

Huang dongfei and Hong Dongxiang were born on December 14 in Hefei, capital of Anhui Province. Doctors said the twins are connected along 15 centimeters from their chests to navels, and share one heart and one liver. Their intestinal systems are also connected.

Fan revealed the risky operation would cost 300,000 to 500,000 euros (US$397,500 to US$663,500), which will be covered by the hospital and a German medical institution.

"We will give one boy the heart and use a man-made heart for the other," said Fan, adding that the German experts would supply a man-made heart developed especially for infants.

(Shanghai Daily March 7, 2005)