Last April, doctors closed a major blood vessel the twins share with a procedure known as Coil Occlusion. Now, after a similar procedure Thursday, they say Anastasia and Tatiana Dogaru are circulating their blood almost independently of each other. Doctors think the girls will have a better chance of surviving a separation procedure if they're already circulating their blood independently. Dr. Alan Cohen heads the separation team. He says the procedures are proving more successful than they anticipated.
Alan Cohen: What we found unexpectedly, was that Anastasia had also rerouted blood at a distance site. That was Mother Nature helping us out a bit.
So in total, three vessels have been blocked through the occlusion procedures. Now, Cohen and his team are using life-size brain models to plan the girl's separation, something that could happen in June or later this summer.