Lakshmi surgery 'a spectacular success', say doctors

A gruelling, 24-hour-long operation to remove the extra limbs of a girl born with four arms and four legs was a spectacular success, leaving her in stable condition, doctors announced today.

A team of more than 30 physicians successfully removed the two-year-old Indian girl’s extra limbs, salvaged her organs, and rebuilt her pelvis area, Dr Sharan Patil said from a hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

“Beyond our expectations, the reconstruction worked wonderfully well,” said Patil, the lead orthopaedic surgeon during the operation.

The girl, named Lakshmi, is revered by some in her village as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess.

Lakshmi was born joined to a “parasitic twin” that stopped developing in her mother’s womb.

The surviving foetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped foetus.

The complications for Lakshmi’s surgery were myriad. She was born with four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities. She cannot stand up or walk. The surgery also included separating the fused spines, Dr Patil said.

“Every step was successful. There was no setback whatsoever.”

The procedure included separating the fused spines along with removing the extra limbs and the rest of the "parasite", said Patil.

Children born with deformities in deeply traditional rural parts of India, like the remote village in the northern state of Bihar that Lakshmi comes from, are often viewed as reincarnated gods.

The young girl is no different - she is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth.

"Everybody considers her a goddess at our village," said her father, Shambhu, who goes by one name. "All this expenditure has happened to make her normal. So far, everything is fine."

Others sought to make money from Lakshmi.

Her parents kept her in hiding after a circus apparently tried to buy the girl, they said.

The complications for Lakshmi's surgery were myriad.

She was born with four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities. She cannot stand up or walk.

Patil put the risk of losing Lakshmi between 20-25%. Doctors have said the best case scenario after the surgery is that she will walk and function as a normal child.

Doctors at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, where the girl was undergoing surgery, said she is popular among the staff and patients.

The hospital's foundation is paying for the operation because the girl's family could not afford the medical bills.

"She's a very cute girl," Dr Patil Mamatha said. "She's very playful and gets along well with others."