Doctors successfully separated on Wednesday the fused legs of a Peruvian baby girl known as the "Little Mermaid," in a risky operation they hope will help her to walk by her second birthday. Thirteen-month-old Milagros Cerron was born with a rare defect called Mermaid syndrome, or sirenomelia, which often kills sufferers within a few hours of birth. This is the first of two operations she will have to undergo if she is to walk.
"We have independent movement in her knee articulations, the surgery was a success," Dr Luis Rubio told reporters who followed the overnight operation at a Lima hospital, adding that the girl was awake.
"We have achieved more than we had planned," Rubio added, referring to the original plan to separate the girl's legs from her heels just up to her knees.
A hospital spokesman told Reuters that doctors had separated her legs to a point some 2 inches to 4 inches (5 cm to 10 cm) above her knees.
Milagros, whose name in Spanish means "miracles," will need another operation at the end of the year and several more surgeries by the time she is a teenager.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.