Click to play videoBangalore: A marathon operation on 2-year-old Laksmi, who was born with four arms and four legs, went ''wonderfully well'' doctors said on Wednesday as they announced that she was safe and stable after almost 40 hours of surgery.
A team of 30 doctors at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore successfully removed the child's extra limbs, salvaged her organs, and rebuilt her pelvis area,
''Beyond our expectations, the reconstruction worked wonderfully well,'' said Dr Sharan Patil at a press conference. Lakshmi was born joined to a ''parasitic twin'' that stopped developing in the mother's womb. The surviving foetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped fetus.
The doctors worked through the night to remove the extra limbs and organs, surgery that doctors say will give her a good chance to live past adolescence. The procedure included separating the fused spines along with removing the extra limbs and the rest of the ''parasite,'' said Patil, the orthopedic surgeon leading the operation.
Lakshmi is recovering at the hospital’s intensive care unit and will be under observation for a few days.
The journey from a remote village—where she was revered as a Goddess—near the Bihar-Nepal border to Bangalore was long and arduous but Lakshmi won in the challenge.
A team of paediatrics worked all night on Tuesday to separate organs from the twin body and before that neurosurgeons had separated the spinal chord. The complicated procedure involved separating the parasitic twin's tissues, giving Lakshmi one of the functional kidneys, shifting the genital system and bladder from the left side of the body to a more centred position, reconstructing the pelvic ring, plastic surgery to close her wounds and operations to correct her club feet.
Lakshmi’s parents are hopeful their daughter will be able to lead a normal life. “We are her parents and naturally get worried often. But we are praying and are hopeful,” says her father Shambhu.
It’s a medical complication seen in one among 50,000 cases and if this risky surgery is successful, it will not only be a first in India but will also be a landmark in the surgery of ischiophagus conjoined twins in India.
Planning for the surgery took a month and doctors say without it Lakshmi may not have survived beyond early adolescence.
(With inputs from Priyanjana Dutta and The Associated Press)
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