Surgeons Remove Baby's Second Head
Surgeons in Egypt have successfully removed the second head from a 10-month baby girl who suffered from craniopagus parasiticus, one of the rarest birth defects, reports Reuters. The child, Manar Maged, was born with two heads. The second head was a conjoined twin connected at the skull, who developed inside the womb without a body. While the second head was capable of smiling and blinking, it did not have independent life.
During the 13-hour operation, which was performed in a hospital near Cairo, surgeons removed the "parasitic" twin that was attached at the upper left side of Manar's skull. They had to separate Manar's brain from the conjoined organ in small stages, cutting off the blood supply to the extra head while preventing increased blood flow to Manar's heart, which would have risked cardiac arrest, reports Reuters. The baby's skull was reconstructed during the surgery with the skin joined over the bone. No other reconstructive surgery will be needed. Manar will remain in intensive care for 10 days. One day after the surgery, Manar was able to move all four limbs and showed no signs of paralysis. She was breathing normally and had a normal heartbeat and blood pressure.
Reuters explains that this rare birth defect occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process. The second twin can form as an extra limb, a complete second body that lacks vital organs, or, in very rare cases, a head.
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