A baby girl born with four legs and two spines has been separated from a parasitic twin which protruded from her neck and back.
The ten-month-old girl, identified only as Dominique, was taken from the Ivory Coast to a hospital in the US for a complex surgery which was deemed a success.
Dominique spent five days in hospital and is now recovering at the home of a foster family until she is healthy enough to fly back home to the West African nation.
Doctors who performed the surgery at Advocate Children's Hospital, in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, said the bottom half of the parasitic twin's undeveloped body was protruding from Dominique's neck and back.
John Ruge, a pediatric neurosurgeon at the hospital, told Reuters: "A parasitic twin is an identical twin that fails to fully separate in development.
"In other words, not another independent twin, but a twin that was dependent on her body system, such that Dominique's heart and lungs provided the nourishment."
Pediatric and reconstructive surgeon Frank Vicari added: "It's going rather well. She was only in the hospital a total of five days.
"She's been home with 'step-mum' and just doing very, very well."
The girl's foster mum, Nancy Swabb, has been caring for Dominique since she left her family in Ivory Coast and arrived in the US for surgery.
Dominique's family have been relying on her for updates.
Ms Swabb said: "She's been a joy. We really enjoyed having her in our family.
"We send a lot of photos and updates and so we know that Dominique's family sees what she's doing and seeing that she has two new teeth and she's learning to wave and doing all sorts of special things."
Ms Swabb has grown so close to the young girl that she isn't looking forward to saying goodbye to her when she returns home.
The foster mum said: "She has touched our hearts. She's a member of our family. She's pretty amazing."
SOURCE:http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/baby-born-four-legs-two-10073251
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