Baby Born With 2nd Head to Get Surgery

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Baby Born With 2nd Head to Get Surgery
By PETER PRENGAMAN

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) - A Dominican infant born with a second head will undergo a risky operation Friday to remove the appendage, which has a partially formed brain, ears, eyes and lips.

The surgery is complicated because the two heads share arteries.

Led by a Los Angles-based neurosurgeon who successfully separated Guatemalan twins, the medical team will spend about 13 hours removing Rebeca Martinez's second head.

The 18 surgeons, nurses and doctors will cut off the undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries and close the skull of the 7-week-old baby using a bone graft from another part of her body.


``We know this is a delicate operation,'' Rebeca's father, Franklyn Martinez, 28, told The Associated Press. ``But we have a positive attitude.''


CURE International, a Lemoyne, Pa.-based charity that gives medical care to disabled children in developing countries, is paying for the surgery and follow-up care.

Dr. Jorge Lazareff, director of pediatric neurosurgery at the University of California at Los Angeles' Mattel Children's Hospital, will lead the operation along with Dr. Benjamin Rivera, a neurosurgeon at the Medical Center of Santo Domingo. Lazareff led a team that successfully separated Guatemalan twin girls in 2002.


Doctors say if the surgery goes well Rebeca won't need physical therapy and will develop as a normal child.


Rebeca was born on Dec. 17 with the undeveloped head of her twin, a condition known as craniopagus parasiticus.


Twins born conjoined at the head are extremely rare, accounting for one of every 2.5 million births. Parasitic twins like Rebeca are even rarer.

Rebeca is the eighth documented case in the world of craniopagus parasiticus, said Dr. Santiago Hazim, medical director at CURE International's Center for Orthopedic Specialties in Santo Domingo, where the surgery will be performed.

All the other documented infants died before birth, making it the first known surgery of its kind, Lazareff and Hazim said.

Hazim said the surgery must be done now so the pressure of Rebeca's other brain doesn't prevent her from developing.

Rebeca shares blood vessels and arteries with her second head. Although only partially developed, the mouth on her second head moves when Rebeca is being breast-fed. Tests indicate some activity in her second brain.

Martinez and his 26-year-old wife, Maria Gisela Hiciano, say doctors told them before Rebeca was born that she would have a tumor on her head, but none of the prenatal tests showed a second head developing.

Martinez works at a tailor's shop. Hiciano is a supermarket cashier. Together they make about $200 a month. They have two other children, ages 4 and 1.

Lazareff says Rebeca's chances of survival are good. Still, he refuses to make a prognosis.

``We'll do everything we can to make this successful,'' he said.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...20040204XWA101

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There is a photo of the baby which I think is too graphic to post here. If you click on the above link, you will see the baby. I think that it is so sad. Hopefully, the doctors can help her, and the surgery will be successful. Little Rebeca will be in my prayers.

[CrimsonTide4]

I just looked at the baby picture. Wow! Is all I can really form my lips to say.

My prayers for Rebecca and her family.

Martinez works at a tailor's shop. Hiciano is a supermarket cashier. Together they make about $200 a month. They have two other children, ages 4 and 1.

WOW again. We take so much for granted, but here is a family of 5 living off of $200 a month.

[Steeltrap]

I also hope that Babyperson Rebeca will come through surgery and recover well.

[decadence]

I am a bad person for thinking of South Park!

On a more serious note I also hope the surgery goes well and without complication and Rebecca is able to live a normal & full life.

[ZTAMiami]

I saw this on a spanish news program. I will also be praying for Rebeca. This sort of thing makes me hold my Rebecca a little tighter.

[G8Ralphaxi]

Originally posted by decadence
I am a bad person for thinking of South Park!

Don't feel too bad - you're not the only one who thought of that.

I am continually amazed at the miracles that our doctors can perform. Just to think that this baby has a decent chance at a normal life when even just a couple decades ago, she would probably die. Amazing.

That charity that's sponsoring the surgery sounds pretty neat - reminds me of the "Operation Smile" people that help the kids with cleft palates. Good people.

[James]

Pray for the underdeveloped person trapped in Rebecca's second head.

[ThetaPrincess24]

I saw on teh news this morning that baby died The surgery was 12 hours long and she died 12 hours after it was over. Apparently she lost a lot of blood and her little body couldnt handle the surgery.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I just read that she died. It's so sad.

[Virtual Violet]

Baby born with two heads dies after surgery
Saturday, February 7, 2004 Posted: 7:18 PM EST (0018 GMT)



Rebeca was believed to have been the first such person to have undergone surgery.


SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- 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.

[CrimsonTide4]

This is extremely sad. God bless little Rebecca and her family.

[CatStarESP4]

I was in disbelief when I saw the news on Yahoo. Poor little Rebeca! I was hoping that she would survive after undergoing the risky procedure. My heart goes out to her family.

[cash78mere]

oh wow. that is so sad. the poor little thing