08 February 2004	Sunday	16 Zilhaj 1424

SANTO DOMINGO, Feb 7: A seven-week-old Dominican girl born with one of the world's rarest birth defects died on Saturday, hours after undergoing a delicate operation to remove an undeveloped second head.

A spokeswoman at the CURE International Center for Orthopedic Specialties in Santo Domingo said that Rebeca Martinez had died, but gave no other details.

A team of international doctors said on Friday night that they had successfully completed a day-long operation to remove the second head. But doctors had cautioned that the baby would face a series of risks as she recovered, such as infection or hemorrhaging.

The surgery was led by Dr Jorge Lazareff, director of pediatric neurosurgery at UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital, and Dominican surgeons Dr. Santiago Hazim and Dr. Benjamin Rivera.

Lazareff led the surgical team that successfully separated last year Guatemalan twin girls conjoined at the head.

Friday's surgery began in the morning and went on until late in the evening, with a team of surgeons and nurses taking shifts.

Martinez was born in mid-December at a hospital in the Dominican capital with the head of an undeveloped twin attached to the top of her skull, facing upward. The infant was otherwise healthy but her brain could not develop normally unless the undeveloped head was removed.-Reuters