Successful surgery on indian girl

BANGALORE – Doctors in India completed a gruelling 24-hour operation yesterday on a girl born with four arms and four legs, and surgeons said the two-year-old, revered by many as a reincarnated goddess, has a chance at a normal life.

The surgery went ‘wonderfully well’, said Dr. Sharan Patil who led a team of more than 30 surgeons at a hospital in the southern city of Bangalore that performed the marathon procedure to remove the child’s extra limbs, salvage her organs and rebuild her pelvis area.Doctors say the operation will give Lakshmi, a girl from rural northern India, a chance to start life again after two years in which her parents hid her from deeply superstitious villagers – who alternately revered her as a Hindu deity and tried to buy her for a circus.”This girl can now lead as good a life as anyone else,” Patil said.Lakshmi was born joined at the pelvis to a “parasitic twin” that stopped developing in the mother’s womb.The surviving foetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and some other body parts of the undeveloped foetus.”This is a very rare occurrence,” said paediatric surgeon Dr.Doug Miniati at the University of California, San Francisco.Miniati, who was not involved in the surgery, said it was extremely complicated but her chances of survival were greater because she had not ben joined with the other foetus at the heart or brain.The doctors worked through the night to remove the extra limbs and organs.By midnight, a team of neurologists had separated the fused spines while orthopaedic surgeons removed most of the “parasite,” carefully identifying which organs and internal structures belonged to the girl, Patil said.Then began the difficult job of reconstructing the girl’s lower body.The operation included transplanting a good kidney into Lakshmi from the twin.The team also used tissue from the twin to help rebuild the pelvic area, one of the most complicated parts of the surgery, said Patil.However, she will need more treatment and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk, he said.Nampa-APSharan Patil who led a team of more than 30 surgeons at a hospital in the southern city of Bangalore that performed the marathon procedure to remove the child’s extra limbs, salvage her organs and rebuild her pelvis area.Doctors say the operation will give Lakshmi, a girl from rural northern India, a chance to start life again after two years in which her parents hid her from deeply superstitious villagers – who alternately revered her as a Hindu deity and tried to buy her for a circus.”This girl can now lead as good a life as anyone else,” Patil said.Lakshmi was born joined at the pelvis to a “parasitic twin” that stopped developing in the mother’s womb.The surviving foetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and some other body parts of the undeveloped foetus.”This is a very rare occurrence,” said paediatric surgeon Dr.Doug Miniati at the University of California, San Francisco.Miniati, who was not involved in the surgery, said it was extremely complicated but her chances of survival were greater because she had not ben joined with the other foetus at the heart or brain.The doctors worked through the night to remove the extra limbs and organs.By midnight, a team of neurologists had separated the fused spines while orthopaedic surgeons removed most of the “parasite,” carefully identifying which organs and internal structures belonged to the girl, Patil said.Then began the difficult job of reconstructing the girl’s lower body.The operation included transplanting a good kidney into Lakshmi from the twin.The team also used tissue from the twin to help rebuild the pelvic area, one of the most complicated parts of the surgery, said Patil.However, she will need more treatment and possible surgery for clubbed feet before she will be able to walk, he said.Nampa-AP