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| 'Mermaid' baby to
begin 15 years of surgery
| |
Peru's "little mermaid," a baby born with legs fused from her thighs to her ankles, will undergo
delicate surgery Tuesday night to begin repairing her rare birth defect.
Doctors say it could take 15 years of operations to correct the child's
birth defects.
Milagros Cerron, who celebrated her first birthday on April 27, was
born with a rare congenital
defect known as sirenomelia, or "mermaid syndrome,"
which occurs in one out of every 70,000 births.
Doctors will begin the first of three complicated operations to
separate her legs, which are seamlessly fused all the way to her heels, at
9:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.
The surgery on Milagros, whose name means "miracles" in Spanish, will
focus on her ankles and the lower third of her calves, and is expected to last at
least four hours.
There are only three known cases of children with the affliction alive
in the world today, the child's physician, Dr. Luis Rubio, said in the
statement.
A medical team of 10 doctors, including plastic surgeons, pediatricians
and heart specialists, will assist in the surgery.
In the past three months, doctors have inserted silicone bags filled
with saline solution to
stretch the skin so it will cover her legs once they are cut apart.
Rubio said last month that "frequent, recurring urinary infections" and a low red
blood count had slowed her progress ahead of surgery.
Milagros has a deformed left kidney and a very small right one located
very low in her body. In addition, her digestive and urinary tracts and
her genitals share a single tube.
Rubio said Milagros would need up to 15 years of corrective surgeries
to reconstruct and repair her sexual, digestive and other internal
organs.
(Agencies) |
一出生從大腿到腳踝就完全粘連在一起的秘魯“小美人魚”將于周二晚接受高難度的手術，以期修復其罕見的生理缺陷。
醫生們表示一共需要15年時間來醫治“小美人魚”的生理缺陷。
4月27日，米拉格羅斯·塞龍迎來了自己的第一個生日。她出生時就患有罕見的先天性“無足并腿畸形癥”，也叫“美人魚綜合癥”，大約每7萬個新生兒中會出現1例。
據美聯社報道：周二晚九點半，醫生們將開始進行第一次雙腿分離手術，總共要進行三次復雜的手術才能將她的雙腿分開，她的雙腿一直到腳跟都完全粘連在一起。
米拉格羅斯這個名字在西班牙語中意為“奇跡”。這次手術預期至少得花4個小時，主要是將她的腳踝至小腿下部三分之一處分開。
主治醫生劉易斯·羅比奧在聲明中說，目前世界上已知的患有這種病并存活下來的兒童只有三個。
由10名整形外科醫生、兒科醫生和心臟病專家組成的醫療小組將在手術過程中提供幫助。
在過去的三個月中，醫生們已經將一個裝滿鹽水溶液的硅膠包植入她的雙腿之間，逐步拉伸雙腿之間的皮膚，這樣，手術過后，皮膚就能覆蓋雙腿。
羅比奧醫生上個月說，“頻繁復發的泌尿系統感染”和較低的紅細胞數延緩了手術前準備工作的進展。
米拉格羅斯的左腎畸形，右腎很小，位于身體的下方。此外，她的消化道，尿路和生殖器共用一條管道。
羅比奧醫生表示一共需要15年時間才能重建并修復米拉格羅斯的性器官、消化器官和其他內臟器官。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-06-02 09:38
