An Egyptian baby who had an operation to remove a second head last month has had a second operation to extract excess fluid from her brain, one of her doctors said yesterday.

Ten-month-old Manar Maged had the operation because she developed hydrocephalus, a condition in which fluid accumulates in the cerebral ventricles causing convulsions and an enlargement of the skull, said Nasif Hifnawy, head of paediatrics at Benha Children?s Hospital north of Cairo.

?We planted a valve in her brain in a one-hour operation on Friday that managed to stop her convulsions ... Manar?s case is now stable with normal heart beat, blood pressure, enzyme level and reflex actions?, he added.

Because of a very rare birth defect known as craniopagus parasiticus, Maged was born attached skull-to-skull to the head of an undeveloped twin. She remains in the intensive care at the hospital but doctors expecting to remove her from a ventilator soon.

?I expect she will be able to breathe normally and will be taken off the ventilator tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?, said Abla el-Alfy, a consultant in paediatric intensive care at the hospital.

Craniopagus parasiticus occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but does not complete the process. One of the conjoined twins then fails to develop fully. Doctors have said Manar?s case is extremely rare and her survival of the operation was a big achievement in itself.