 A team of 30 doctors in Bangalore, India
on Tuesday began a 40-hour-long surgery on a 2-year-old girl born with
four arms and four legs. Surgeons at Sparsh Hospital said the procedure
on Lakshmi Tatma, is going according to plan.
Considered
by some in her village as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, the
toddler is actually joined to a "parasitic twin" that stopped
developing in the mother's womb. Doctors believe the surviving fetus
absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped
fetus.
The "parasitic twin"
has its own limbs, spinal column and kidney, but no head. The rare
condition is known as isciopagus. The toddler has two merged spines,
four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest
cavities. She cannot stand up or walk.
Doctors
plan to remove the extra limbs and organs and if the surgery is
successful, it would the toddler a good chance to live past
adolescence. They have already separated the fused spines and the next
step will be to remove the extra limbs and the rest of the "parasite."
Dr.
Sharan Patil, the orthopedic surgeon leading the operation told the
Associated Press, "As of now, the child has been responding very well."
The hospital's foundation is paying for the operation because the girl's family could not afford the medical bills.
Her
parents, Shambhu and Poonam Tatma, named the girl after the Hindu
goddess of wealth i.e. Lakshmi who has four arms in the mythical story.
However, they were forced to keep her in hiding after they were
approached by men offering money in exchange for putting their daughter
in a circus.(AHN0
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