Risky surgery a 'true success'
2005-06-02 11:55
Lima - Doctors fully separated the fused legs of a baby known as Peru's "little mermaid" early on Wednesday, calling the delicate procedure a "true success".
Doctors performing the four-hour surgery had planned to begin repairing the birth defect only up to the child's knees, but the procedure "exceeded" expectations.
Holding up 13-month-old Milagros Cerron's legs in a V-shape, displaying the line of stitches extending up from her heels to her inner thighs, Dr Luis Rubio, said:"We have mobility of the independent knee joints."
Milagros was born with a rare congenital defect known as sirenomelia, or "mermaid syndrome", which occurs in one out of every 70 000 births.
According to Rubio there are only three known cases of children with the affliction alive in the world today.
A difficult scene to watch
The surgery was televised live on national television and was watched by the child's parents.
Milagros' father, Ricardo Cerron, 24, broke into tears as Rubio made the first incision at the start of the surgery late on Tuesday. The baby's mother, Sara Arauco, 20, put her hand to her mouth.
Arauco said: "Yes, this is a miracle," she said. "I know, even though I am a sinner, God has paid attention to me, maybe not for my sake, but for my daughter's."
Asked about the difficulty of watching the graphic images on the screen above her, she said: "I am strong. I am young."
The first sign that the operation was going well came 30 minutes into the surgery, when Rubio announced, "We have overcome the first difficulty."
He was referring to a major artery that connected both legs.
How to divide the crossover artery had been the greatest challenge going into the operating room, Rubio said. Preliminary studies indicating it would not be necessary to perform a bypass of the artery appeared to have panned out.
More work to be done
The 11 doctors who performed the operation included plastic surgeons, paediatricians and heart specialists. Rubio said the medical team operated at night because the doctors wanted to perform surgery when the Solidarity Hospital, a public facility that serves 1 500 people daily, would be at its quietest.
Milagros is in a stable condition, he said.
Milagros weighs 6.69kg and measures 63.5cm long, about the size and weight of a normal six-month-old.
Rubio said Milagros had suffered frequent urinary infections because her urinary tract, anus and genitals end in the same opening, almost like a "sewer".
But her intellectual development has been remarkable, he said.
In the last three months, doctors inserted silicone bags filled with saline solution to stretch the skin so it would be able to cover her legs once they are cut apart.
Milagros has a deformed left kidney and a very small right one located very low in her body.
Rubio said Milagros would need up to 15 years of corrective surgeries to reconstruct and repair her sexual, digestive and other internal organs.
- AP