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An 8-week-old baby born with two heads has died after surgery, said reports from Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic, on Saturday.
The baby girl, Rebeca Martinez, died at 06:00 a.m. (1000 GMT) after doctors removed her second head, reports quoted her doctors as saying.
The 12-hour surgery started on early Friday night in the Cure International Center.
"Apparently there was an imbalance in her arterial pressure after the surgery and that caused the hemorrhaging," said Jorge Lazareff, head of pediatric neurosurgery at Los Angeles's Children's Hospital.
Benjamin Rivera, the neurosurgery director of Orthopedic Specialties of the Cure International Center said the girl was "very well and stable during all the surgery."
The two-head baby was born on Dec. 17. One of her heads was undeveloped and attached to the top of the healthy one, facing upward.
This is an extremely rare case scientifically known as craniopagus parasiticus.
The underdeveloped head could have belonged to her twin sister and the brain, ears, eyes and lips on the head were only partially formed.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2004)
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