2004Edition>News Center>World
         
 

Baby born with two heads dies after surgery
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-02-08 10:09

An infant girl born with a second head bled to death Saturday after complex surgery to remove her partially formed twin, her parents and doctors said.

A medical team completed the 11-hour operation Friday night and said 8-week-old Rebeca Martinez died seven hours later. Doctors had warned after the surgery that the girl would be at great risk of infection or hemorrhaging.

"We knew this was a very risky surgery, and now we accept what God has decided," Rebeca's father, 29-year-old Franklin Martinez, said at a news conference with his wife. "Rebeca is no longer with us physically, but no one will forget her."

Martinez said the family would bury Rebeca in a private funeral later in the day.

The girl lost a lot of blood in the operation, which apparently caused her to suffer a heart attack, said Dr. Jorge Lazareff, the lead surgeon. Friends and family donated almost 4 gallons of blood for surgeons to use during Rebeca's operation.

"This was not a failure or an error," Lazareff said. "When we left here last night at midnight the girl was in stable condition. At some point in the middle of the night, she started to bleed."

Rebeca was born December 10 with the undeveloped head of her twin, an extremely rare condition known as craniopagus parasiticus.

Fully developed twins born conjoined at the head are extremely rare, accounting for one of every 2.5 million births, but parasitic twins, where one twin stops developing in the womb, are even rarer. Rebecca was the eighth documented case in the world of craniopagus parasiticus, doctors said.

All the other infants documented to have had the condition died before birth, making Rebeca's surgery the first known operation of its kind.

Without an operation, Rebeca would have barely been able to lift her head at 3 months old. Her doctors said the pressure from the second head, attached on top of the first and facing up, would have prevented her brain from developing.

"She was too little to withstand the surgery," said her mother, 26-year-old Maria Gisela Hiciano, sobbing softly. She said doctors told her Rebeca died about 6 a.m.

Martinez said doctors told them about 3 a.m. that Rebeca suffered a minor heart attack due to the bleeding, but they believed they could stabilize her. Rebeca then had more heart attacks at 5 a.m. and died shortly after 6 a.m., he said.

Doctors said Rebeca had several blood transfusions, which complicated normal clotting. They also said her heart was accustomed to beating faster to pump out more blood for the second head.

"In that case, you can't do anything. This is the worst complication that can happen in this kind of surgery," said Dr. Benjamin Rivera, one of Rebeca's surgeons.

Doctors will learn more in the coming months as they review Rebeca's operation, said Lazareff, who is director of pediatric neurosurgery at the University of California at Los Angeles' Mattel Children's Hospital. In 2002, he led a team that successfully separated conjoined Guatemalan twin girls.

During Friday's surgery, 18 surgeons, nurses and doctors worked in 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.

"We feel like we've lost a family member," said Dr. Santiago Hazim, medical director of Santo Domingo's Center for Orthopedic Specialties, where the surgery was performed.

The Center for Orthopedic Specialties is among the country's top hospitals, and the medical team from UCLA visited two weeks before the surgery to make sure they had everything they needed.

CURE International, a Lemoyne, Pennsylvania-based charity, paid $100,000 for the surgery. The group funds the center and gives medical care to disabled children in developing countries.

"We always saw Rebeca without the extra part of her body," her father said after her death.

Rebeca was Hiciano's third child -- along with a 4-year-old boy and 1-year-old girl.

"We aren't going to have any more children," she said. "Not because of what happened to Rebeca, but for economic reasons."

Hiciano, a supermarket cashier, and her husband, who is a tailor, together make about $200 a month.

"We want to bury Rebeca as soon as possible so she can rest," her father said.

 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

'Depression' is the catchword among college students

 

   
 

Bird flu detected in US as virus wanes in Asia

 

   
 

John Kerry: George Bush's days are numbered

 

   
 

3 arrested for bombing Chinese restaurants

 

   
 

China court hears homosexual prostitution case

 

   
  Israeli strike kills Jihad leader,boy
   
  Bird flu detected in US as virus wanes in Asia
   
  Russians hunt for Moscow metro bombers
   
  American fined in Brazil for gesture
   
  Fourteen police reported killed in Haiti ambushes
   
  Almost 400 members of Arafat's Fatah quit
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Baby born with 2nd head to get surgery
  News Talk  
  The evil root of all instability in the world today  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 免费观看性欧美一级| 日本精品ova樱花动漫| 免费国产黄网站在线观看视频| 蜜桃av无码免费看永久| 国产欧美在线播放| 91精品久久久久久久久中文字幕 | 免费黄色毛片视频| 色婷婷在线视频| 国产午夜久久精品| 91华人在线视频| 国产特级毛片aaaaaaa高清| 一级一片一a一片| 日本一区二区三| 久久精品亚洲一区二区三区浴池| 皇夫被迫含玉势女尊高h| 国产成人精品无码播放 | 亚洲欧美成人中文在线网站 | 99久久精品美女高潮喷水| 女的扒开尿口让男人桶| 万古战神txt下载| 手机看片国产免费永久| 亚洲国产精品乱码在线观看97| 澳门a毛片免费观看| 免费a级黄色片| 青青草偷拍视频| 国产成人最新毛片基地| 亚洲综合校园春色| 国产精品午夜福利在线观看地址| 91国高清视频| 思思久久99热只有频精品66| 中文无码人妻有码人妻中文字幕 | yy6080新视觉旧里番高清资源| 成人h动漫精品一区二区无码| 中文字幕专区在线亚洲| 欧洲精品免费一区二区三区| 亚洲日韩国产欧美一区二区三区| 老司机美女一级毛片| 国产亚洲av手机在线观看| 韩国本免费一级毛片免费| 国产午夜福利内射青草| 青青草国产三级精品三级|