SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- An infant girl died Saturday after surgery to remove a second head, her mother said.
A medical team completed the operation Friday evening but said 8-week-old Rebeca Martinez had been susceptible to infection or hemorrhaging. The baby died 12 hours after the surgery, believed to be the first of its kind.
The second head, which doctors said threatened the girl's development, grew from the top of her skull and had its own partly developed brain, ears, eyes and lips.
During the surgery, 18 surgeons, nurses and doctors had taken several rotations to cut off the undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries, and close the skull using a bone and skin graft from the second head.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/07....ap/index.html
A medical team completed the operation Friday evening but said 8-week-old Rebeca Martinez had been susceptible to infection or hemorrhaging. The baby died 12 hours after the surgery, believed to be the first of its kind.
The second head, which doctors said threatened the girl's development, grew from the top of her skull and had its own partly developed brain, ears, eyes and lips.
During the surgery, 18 surgeons, nurses and doctors had taken several rotations to cut off the undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries, and close the skull using a bone and skin graft from the second head.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/02/07....ap/index.html
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