A team of 30 surgeons and doctors successfully removed the two extra arms and two extra legs of a 2-year-old Indian girl, who had been born with eight limbs, a second spine and other extra organs.
As part of the surgery, which lasted 24 hours, doctors also managed to salvage her organs and reconstruct her pelvis. The lead surgeon said this girl, whose villagers believed she was a reincarnation of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi, would lead a normal life once she has fully recovered.
Lakshmi's extra body parts are the result of a "parasitic twin," a second fetus in a mother's womb that dies and becomes absorbed by the other living and normally developing fetus.
The next few days she will be watched closely as she remains in critical condition. One surgeon in the U.S., who was not involved in Lakshmi's operation, said the girls chances of survival are great, since she and her twin weren't joined at the brain or heart.
Photo: Associated Press
