Two-year-old Lakshmi, who was born with four arms and four legs, was successfully operated upon by a team of 30 doctors at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore.
Doctors successfully removed the child's extra limbs, salvaged her organs and rebuilt her pelvis area in a 27-hour surgery, which was completed much before the estimated time of 40 hours.
The girl, who was named Lakshmi aftet a four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, had been living with her parents in a remote village in the northern state of Bihar where she has been both venerated and hounded.
Lakshmi suffered from a rare condition called isciopagus, which means that she was joined to a twin who stopped developing in the womb. The twin's limbs, kidneys and other body parts had been absorbed in Lakshmi's body. Lakshmi could not stand or walk and she had merged spines, four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities. Lakshmi's condition had drawn unwanted attention. Her parents hid her after a circus apparently tried to buy the girl.
Lakshmi suffered from a rare condition called isciopagus, which means that she was joined to a twin who stopped developing in the womb. The twin's limbs, kidneys and other body parts had been absorbed in Lakshmi's body. Lakshmi could not stand or walk and she had merged spines, four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities. Lakshmi's condition had drawn unwanted attention. Her parents hid her after a circus apparently tried to buy the girl.
Lakshmi is now recovering in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. Lakshmi has been described as a cute and playful girl who gets on well with others.
"Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," said her father, Shambhu. "All this expenditure has happened to make her normal. So far, everything is fine."
"Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," said her father, Shambhu. "All this expenditure has happened to make her normal. So far, everything is fine."
Dr Sharan Shivraj Patil who led the surgery said it is indeed a proud moment for him. “We had to go very slowly in a step by step manner. We had to identify each structure time and again. Also we had to understand the vascularity so that we don’t burn any bridges. Our team did a wonderful job in that aspect and once we did that we had to salvage the kidney.”
“I should proudly say that the orthopedic team was brilliant. We separated the bones, which belonged to Lakshmi and in fact we did innovate a few things and retained some part of the parasitic twin to reconstruct the pelvis. This is because her pelvis did not have enough bone to reconstruct,” Patil explained.
“I should proudly say that the orthopedic team was brilliant. We separated the bones, which belonged to Lakshmi and in fact we did innovate a few things and retained some part of the parasitic twin to reconstruct the pelvis. This is because her pelvis did not have enough bone to reconstruct,” Patil explained.
However the next few days are crucial for Lakshmi. The marathon surgery that started on Tuesday at 0700 hours lasted till 1000 hours on Wednesday. Doctors at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore said they were performing the surgery, which they estimated cost $625,000, for free because the girl's family could not afford the medical bills.
