http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...e=1&u=/nm/20050222/hl_nm/health_egypt_baby_dc
Baby Improving After Extra Head Removed
Tue Feb 22, 9:50 AM ET
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian baby who underwent a 13-hour operation to remove an extra head will soon be able to breathe on her own, a doctor treating her said Tuesday.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.co...902211747.egypt_separation_surgery_xhj109.jpg
Ten-month-old Manar Maged was suffering from one of the rarest birth defects -- craniopagus parasiticus -- a problem related to that of conjoined twins linked at the skull.
The head that was removed from Manar in the operation which ended early Saturday had developed no body, and was capable of smiling and blinking, but not independent life.
Doctors have already said that Manar could move all her limbs and showed no signs of paralysis after the operation in a children's hospital in Benha, near Cairo.
"At the moment only about 15 percent of her breathing is through the ventilator and in about 48 hours we will switch the ventilator off," Abla el-Alfy, a consultant in pediatric intensive care, told Reuters.
Alfy, part of the team of 13 Egyptian doctors who carried out the operation, said it was too early to say whether Manar could have suffered brain damage.
"In four days or less we will do a ... scan of her brain to see what the situation is," Alfy said.
Craniopagus parasiticus occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process. One of the conjoined twins fails to develop fully in the womb.
Professor Lewis Spitz, a leading expert on conjoined twins at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London said the vital question for Manar was whether brain tissue and blood vessels were shared between the two heads.
He said it was critical that the blood flow away from the surviving twin was not interfered with during separation.
Spitz did not know how many cases of craniopagus parasiticus have occurred or the number of attempted separations. He said the fact Manar survived is a big achievement in itself.
"It must be quite rare. In about 2 percent of conjoined twins the heads are fused," he said, adding that an incomplete conjoined twin joined at the head is even rarer.
He said the incidence of live born conjoined twins is about one in 200,000.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Reaney in London)
Baby Improving After Extra Head Removed
Tue Feb 22, 9:50 AM ET
CAIRO (Reuters) - An Egyptian baby who underwent a 13-hour operation to remove an extra head will soon be able to breathe on her own, a doctor treating her said Tuesday.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.co...902211747.egypt_separation_surgery_xhj109.jpg
Ten-month-old Manar Maged was suffering from one of the rarest birth defects -- craniopagus parasiticus -- a problem related to that of conjoined twins linked at the skull.
The head that was removed from Manar in the operation which ended early Saturday had developed no body, and was capable of smiling and blinking, but not independent life.
Doctors have already said that Manar could move all her limbs and showed no signs of paralysis after the operation in a children's hospital in Benha, near Cairo.
"At the moment only about 15 percent of her breathing is through the ventilator and in about 48 hours we will switch the ventilator off," Abla el-Alfy, a consultant in pediatric intensive care, told Reuters.
Alfy, part of the team of 13 Egyptian doctors who carried out the operation, said it was too early to say whether Manar could have suffered brain damage.
"In four days or less we will do a ... scan of her brain to see what the situation is," Alfy said.
Craniopagus parasiticus occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process. One of the conjoined twins fails to develop fully in the womb.
Professor Lewis Spitz, a leading expert on conjoined twins at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London said the vital question for Manar was whether brain tissue and blood vessels were shared between the two heads.
He said it was critical that the blood flow away from the surviving twin was not interfered with during separation.
Spitz did not know how many cases of craniopagus parasiticus have occurred or the number of attempted separations. He said the fact Manar survived is a big achievement in itself.
"It must be quite rare. In about 2 percent of conjoined twins the heads are fused," he said, adding that an incomplete conjoined twin joined at the head is even rarer.
He said the incidence of live born conjoined twins is about one in 200,000.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Reaney in London)
