'Mermaid' Baby Surgery A Success

Peruvian Baby Girl's Operation Went Far Better Than Expected

(AP)  Doctors fully separated the fused legs of a baby girl known as Peru's "mermaid" early Wednesday, calling the delicate procedure a "true success."

Doctors performing the four-hour long surgery had planned to begin repairing the birth defect only up to the child's knees, but the procedure exceeded the expectations of the medical team.

"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.

Due to a rare congenital condition, Milagros was born with her legs fused together from her thighs to her ankles.

National and international reporters assembled on a third floor mezzanine at Solidarity Hospital to watch television monitors as the surgery began late Tuesday in a small operating room on the first floor.

Hours before the surgery, Milagros giggled and played in her hospital bed while Dr. Luis Rubio, leader of the team of 11 surgeons performing the operation, looked on.

Milagros' father, Ricardo Cerron, 24, who was sitting with reporters watching the monitors, broke into tears as Rubio made the first incision. The baby's mother, Sara Arauco, 19, put her hand to her mouth as the surgery began. A nurse standing behind her chair put her hands on her shoulders.

Milagros, whose name means "miracles" in Spanish, was born with a rare congenital defect known as sirenomelia, or "mermaid syndrome," which occurs in one out of every 70,000 births. Her legs are seamlessly fused all the way to her heels.

There are only three known cases of children born with the affliction alive in the world today, according to Rubio.