Doctors separate Peruvian baby's fused legs
Four and a half hours after making their first incision, surgeons in the Peruvian capital Lima finished a delicate operation on the “little mermaid” - a baby girl born with legs fused from her thighs to her ankles.
The surgery, planned to begin repairing the child’s birth defect only up to her knees, exceeded the expectations of the medical team, which was able to fully separate her legs.
“This is the final result that we have come to in this extraordinary surgical intervention,” said Dr Luis Rubio, 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.
“We have mobility of the independent knee joints.
National and international reporters assembled on a third floor mezzanine watched television monitors as the surgery began earlier today in a small operating room on the first floor.
“This surgical intervention has been a true success,” Rubio said.
Hours before the surgery, Milagros, whose name means “miracles” in English, giggled and played on her hospital bed while Dr Luis Rubio, leader of a team of 11 surgeons performing the operation, looked on.
