- A two-month-old Dominican girl, born with two heads,
has died following the completion of a day-long operation to correct the
abnormality.
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- The clinic treating Rebeca Martinez in Santo Domingo
announced today that she had passed away after yesterday's marathon procedure
to remove her second head was branded successful. The clinic but gave no
other details.
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- A team of international doctors completed the operation
successfully on Friday night but warned that Rebeca would face an uncertain
24 hours as she remained susceptible to infection and haemorrhaging.
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- The procedure was lead by UCLA neurosurgen Dr Dr. Jorge
Lazareff, who also led the surgical team that successfully separated Guatemalan
twins conjoined at the head, last year.
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- In Rebeca's case, there was a gap in her skull where
the two heads were joined, and the blood vessels were intertwined. The
vestigial head was enlarged and fringed with dark hair like Rebeca's but
had a poorly developed brain and only rudimentary facial features.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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