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Baby born with a parasitic second head dies despite 18-doctor surgical marathon By Michael Day, Health Correspondent (Filed: 08/02/2004) An attempt to remove an undeveloped second head from a baby girl born with one of the world's rarest birth defects ended in tragedy yesterday when she died hours after undergoing surgery. In a pioneering 12-hour procedure, an international team of doctors had separated Rebeca Martinez, a seven-week-old infant from the Dominican Republic in the Caribbean, from the "parasitic head" that was growing faster than her own and that, left attached, would have killed her. Rebeca's condition, craniopagus parasiticus, or parasite...

<p>SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) -- An infant girl died Saturday after surgery to remove a second head, her mother said.</p> <p>A medical team completed the operation Friday evening but said 8-week-old Rebeca Martinez had been susceptible to infection or hemorrhaging. The baby died 12 hours after the surgery, believed to be the first of its kind.</p>

<p>Seven-week-old Rebeca Martinez had been born with the head of what would have been her twin, attached to her own skull.</p> <p>Surgeons removed the so-called "parasitic head," which had a partially formed brain and facial features, in a 12-hour procedure.</p>

SURGEONS OPERATE ON BABY WITH TWO HEADS A team of surgeons has begun operating on a baby born with two heads. Doctors say they believe the risky surgery is the first of its kind. Led by an American-based neurosurgeon, the medical team plans to remove Rebeca Martinez's second head, which has a partially formed brain, ears, eyes and lips. Eighteen surgeons, nurses and doctors will work in rotation to cut off the undeveloped tissue, clip the veins and arteries and close the skull of the 7-week-old girl using a bone graft from another part of her body. "The head on...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic - 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...