Devilfish
DW Regular
Eight-Limbed Girl's 40-Hour Operation
A two-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs is responding well in the early stages of a 40-hour operation to save her life.
Surgeons in India are removing the excess limbs, organs and other body parts of Lakshmi's "parasitic twin".
Her twin stopped developing in their mother's womb and Lakshmi absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped foetus.
A team of neurosurgeons has now separated the fused spines and will next try to remove the extra limbs.
Lead surgeon Dr Sharan Patil said: "The child has been responding very well."
Speaking outside the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, Dr Patil warned the surgeries would "take many, many hours on a continuous basis".
Before the operation began he said there was a 20-25% chance Lakshmi would die during the operation.
"It's a big team effort of a lot of skilled surgeons who will be putting their heart and soul into solving the problem of Lakshmi," he added.
Lakshmi is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, and some in her poor village in the north Indian state of Bihar revere the little girl.
"Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," said her father Shambhu.
He said the family feared people would try to make money from her and, after an unsuccessful attempt by a circus to buy her, they had kept her in hiding.
Dr Patil Mamatha said the hospital's foundation was paying for the surgeries because her family could not afford the medical bills.
The rare condition is called ischiopagus.
A two-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs is responding well in the early stages of a 40-hour operation to save her life.
Surgeons in India are removing the excess limbs, organs and other body parts of Lakshmi's "parasitic twin".
Her twin stopped developing in their mother's womb and Lakshmi absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped foetus.
A team of neurosurgeons has now separated the fused spines and will next try to remove the extra limbs.
Lead surgeon Dr Sharan Patil said: "The child has been responding very well."
Speaking outside the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, Dr Patil warned the surgeries would "take many, many hours on a continuous basis".
Before the operation began he said there was a 20-25% chance Lakshmi would die during the operation.
"It's a big team effort of a lot of skilled surgeons who will be putting their heart and soul into solving the problem of Lakshmi," he added.
Lakshmi is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, and some in her poor village in the north Indian state of Bihar revere the little girl.
"Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," said her father Shambhu.
He said the family feared people would try to make money from her and, after an unsuccessful attempt by a circus to buy her, they had kept her in hiding.
Dr Patil Mamatha said the hospital's foundation was paying for the surgeries because her family could not afford the medical bills.
The rare condition is called ischiopagus.
