[News] India girl born with four arms and four legs surgery under way

[bigsale]

Eight-Limbed 'Goddess' Op Under Way

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/06/xin_3421104061347875841659.jpg
Lakshmi can not walk or crawl and is unlikely to survive her teens without surgery. (Source: Agencies)

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1607694.jpg
Lakshmi prepares for the operation

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1607691.jpg
Doctors show an X-ray of Lakshmi's body

Video: http://news.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,31200-1291676,00.html

A two-year-old girl who was born with eight limbs has undergone a 40-hour operation to save her life.

Surgeons at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India, agreed to carry out the £100,000 operation and foot the bill.

It has also emerged that Lakshmi's parents, Shambhu and Poonam, had to keep her in hiding after a circus allegedly tried to buy her.

Lakshmi is named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, and some people in her poor village in the northern state of Bihar revere her as a goddess.

She is joined to a "parasitic twin" who stopped developing in her mother's womb, while the surviving foetus absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped foetus.

The operation is made more complicated because the two spines are merged, the girl has four kidneys, entangled nerves, two stomach cavities and two chest cavities.

But a hospital spokesman said: "We have high hopes of everything going fine - and everything is going fine now."

Source: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1291655,00.html

[Latest Update] Spines of 2-yr-old Lakshmi separated: Doctors

All the best, Lakshmi

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2007-11/33659480.jpg
Doctor Saharan Patil (3-L) posing for a photograph with his team of surgeons in Bangalore.

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2007-11/33659481.jpghttp://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2007-11/33659482.jpg
Chief orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil, heading the operation on Lakshmi, addresses the media at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India.

BANGALORE: Doctors at a superspeciality hospital here, who have commenced a complicated surgery on two year-old Lakshmi, a conjoined twin, on Tuesday successfully separated the spines.

"The condition of the child is stable," doctors said.

A team of neurosurgeons have completed their part of the surgery, separated the spines, which the doctors described as "most critical" part of the 40-hour operation that began at 7 am (IST) on Tuesday.

Dr Sharan Patil, the orthopaedic surgeon who heads the five-member core team performing the operation at Sparsh Hospital, said the separation of spines has been smooth without any complications.

"Paediatric surgeons are now operating and trying to separate the organs and then orthopaedic surgeons will try to reconstruct the pelvic ring," he said.

"With the reconstruction of the pelvic ring, the first stage of the surgery will be completed," Patil said.

He expressed hope that the team will be able to complete the first stage of the operation on Tuesday night.

Lakshmi arrived at Sparsh Hospital, a part of Narayana Health city on October 3 from a village in Araria district in Bihar and underwent a series of medical tests.

Parents of Lakshmi, Shambhu, a daily wage labourer and Poonam have come with great hopes to the hospital and have reposed complete faith in the team, Patil said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Spines_of_2-yr-old_Lakshmi_separated_Doctors/articleshow/2522918.cms

[wyetuck88]

omg...i hope everything will go well.
good thing tt the bill is footed.

[Puddie]

Wow... hope it goes ok.. parisitic twin, huh..

[dr_disciple]

That was so unnecessary you fucked mouth.......

octopus!

[~JoY~]

yeah, really looks like a twin with no head is attached to her.

poor girl..
><

hope it goes well n she can live as normal as possible.

[bliondi]

octopus!

typical fuck face comment.

Really pity the girl.

[yihfeng]

Poor girl...

[patsie]

yah really looks like octopus >.< but i feel bad for thinking that.
quite poor thing, circus wanna buy her.. wahlao.
luckily she's gonna benefit from the altruism of others..

[currylicious]

octopus!

what the fuck is ur problem man.

this is no joking matter.

i wonder how would u feel if ppl call ur son fucktard because he got ur similar facial feature

[lulu]

octopus!
knn wheres ur sympathy sia fucker

[leong]

octopus!

if u have nothing to say, pls do shut the fuck up.

[bellamy]

hey patsie and reddevil.. u both should just shut the hell up if u have no brain or dont have any comment on this.. i hope yr kid also becomes like that and the whole vr shall make fun of u both and see how u feel.. shit face

[Limeee]

octopus!
what and idiotic comment... hope yr child suffer the same fate

[patsie]

hey patsie and reddevil.. u both should just shut the hell up if u have no brain or dont have any comment on this.. i hope yr kid also becomes like that and the whole vr shall make fun of u both and see how u feel.. shit face

wtf is wrong with you? i got comment what, i said i felt bad for thinking she looks like an octopus and luckily she can benefit from the goodwill of others for the operation. and i said she's poor thing for actually being a target of a circus cos of the way she looks. WHATS WRONG? DONT YOU FEEL YOu'RE THE ASSHOLE FOR HOPING THAT MY KID LOOKS LIKE THAT? read before commenting lah.

[Xavior]

mmm...
but what about the twin that was attached to her?

[skytzh]

omg, how she lived till so old ? i bet she quite lonely as a children. no fren at all.

[bellamy]

wtf is wrong with you? i got comment what, i said i felt bad for thinking she looks like an octopus and luckily she can benefit from the goodwill of others for the operation. and i said she's poor thing for actually being a target of a circus cos of the way she looks. WHATS WRONG? DONT YOU FEEL YOu'RE THE ASSHOLE FOR HOPING THAT MY KID LOOKS LIKE THAT? read before commenting lah.

sry read wrong.. i see u write octopus den i also a bit agitated because i thought u like reddevil, my apologies :) :rolleyes

kthxbye

[patsie]

sry read wrong.. i see u write octopus den i also a bit agitated because i thought u like reddevil, my apologies :) :rolleyes

kthxbye

okay forgiven :)

[larrylaw]

WTH !!! i just learn gene mutation today i and saw this..

really sad on what the world we created has done to ourselves.

[bozo]

WTH !!! i just learn gene mutation today i and saw this..

really sad on what the world we created has done to ourselves.

this has nothing whatsoever to do with gene mutation, it is likely that her genes are all ok.

its more of an accident because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.


hope her op goes well

[Puddie]

mmm...
but what about the twin that was attached to her?

That twin is not fully formed.. doesn't have a head, just some body parts.

She's pretty lucky in this aspect cos she seems to have all the vital organs.

Ethically speaking not much of a conflict either, since the twin has no head and thus might not be counted as another human; unlike some other cases where the parasitic twin actually responds and all. In those cases, one might question if it's right to let the other one die just so the stronger of the two will survive... :o

I think it's pretty cool that she was born during the celebration of the goddess lakshmi..:D

More links:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/05/wlimbs105.xml

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2816711.ece

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23419627-details/Toddler+with+eight+limbs+branded+'reincarnation+of+Hindu+god'+to+undergo+life-saving+operation/article.do (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23419627-details/Toddler+with+eight+limbs+branded+%27reincarnation+of+Hindu+god%27+to+undergo+life-saving+operation/article.do)

[sboi]

hope the surgery will go well!

[concept|infinit]

Poor girl. Bless her. I hope she recovers well from her surgery and gets to lead a normal life :)

[blackghost]

she absorbed her twin while developing inside the mother's womb.. this probably happened when her cells were multiplying and her twin's cells just fused togehter..like a parasite

any remnants of her twin's cells developed into those extra limbs

[WinterVince]

worlds quite a cruel place to live in... btw... where reddevil go >_> everyone scold him then he zhao ar

[kerrigan]

thats very unusual - looks like some Indian God

[WinterVince]

thats very unusual - looks like some Indian God

u mean the qian shou guan ying ar >_> shes indian by origin right
oh... OH i remember now... shi mian fo (4 sided goddess)

[John_Chee]

worlds quite a cruel place to live in... btw... where reddevil go >_> everyone scold him then he zhao ar

Of course lah or else stay and get more scolding by you all. I won't be so bad won't comment on that.

Anyway that girl I would say she is lucky that at least they have ways to save her. And about being at the wrong place at the wrong time actually it is uncontrollable. Its rather complicated though to have double of limbs and organs and entangled nerves. All we can do is just to hope everything goes well.

The other twin I think has no effect since it was not fully formed. And now since she is already 2 years old then any problems to the mother would have been solved. But isn't it a very bad childhood to have no friends for 2 years? And I wonder how would others react after the operation and know her history?

[thelastname]

isciopagus

[kerrigan]

u mean the qian shou guan ying ar >_> shes indian by origin right
oh... OH i remember now... shi mian fo (4 sided goddess)

not really shi mian fou has many faces - i am referring to many limbs - in this case it's Vishnu

http://www.devotionalsongs.com/vishnu.jpg

[larrylaw]

this has nothing whatsoever to do with gene mutation, it is likely that her genes are all ok.

its more of an accident because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time.


hope her op goes well

there are a few types of mutation.. hers maybe coz the replication of gene was wrong and not corrected by the cell itself.

anyway really sad case for a child at such an age.

[WinterVince]

well at least he should have apologised... otherwise pl of vrz will have a bad impression of him from now on >_>

[John_Chee]

well at least he should have apologised... otherwise pl of vrz will have a bad impression of him from now on >_>

Well, perhaps I might just pretend didn't see the thread too. The more you talk if say the wrong thing you might get flamed even more. Different people think differently though. I choose to remain silent.

[vic viper]

poor girl...hope her operation goes well!

[Puddie]

thats very unusual - looks like some Indian God

This one: And the girl was born during the celebration of this goddess too! Named after her as well - Lakshmi

http://www.muktinath.org/images/hinduismfolder/lakshmi.jpg

http://indan.150m.com/Gods_Of_India/GalleryB/lakshmi4xxxxx.jpg

[weib]

can she move all her legs?

[mylica]

probably yes, but cannot walk properly. Hopes she is alright after operation.

[laroman]

hope she is alright

[syrius]

May the goddess Lakshmi bless her..

[Arayden]

That's one messy mix-up for the gene pool.

The best to a successful operation.

( and the pic has to go )

[bigsale]

All the best, Lakshmi

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2007-11/33659480.jpg
Doctor Saharan Patil (3-L) posing for a photograph with his team of surgeons in Bangalore.

http://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2007-11/33659481.jpghttp://www.newsday.com/media/photo/2007-11/33659482.jpg
Chief orthopedic surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil, heading the operation on Lakshmi, addresses the media at the Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, India.

BANGALORE: Doctors at a superspeciality hospital here, who have commenced a complicated surgery on two year-old Lakshmi, a conjoined twin, on Tuesday successfully separated the spines.

"The condition of the child is stable," doctors said.

A team of neurosurgeons have completed their part of the surgery, separated the spines, which the doctors described as "most critical" part of the 40-hour operation that began at 7 am (IST) on Tuesday.

Dr Sharan Patil, the orthopaedic surgeon who heads the five-member core team performing the operation at Sparsh Hospital, said the separation of spines has been smooth without any complications.

"Paediatric surgeons are now operating and trying to separate the organs and then orthopaedic surgeons will try to reconstruct the pelvic ring," he said.

"With the reconstruction of the pelvic ring, the first stage of the surgery will be completed," Patil said.

He expressed hope that the team will be able to complete the first stage of the operation on Tuesday night.

Lakshmi arrived at Sparsh Hospital, a part of Narayana Health city on October 3 from a village in Araria district in Bihar and underwent a series of medical tests.

Parents of Lakshmi, Shambhu, a daily wage labourer and Poonam have come with great hopes to the hospital and have reposed complete faith in the team, Patil said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Spines_of_2-yr-old_Lakshmi_separated_Doctors/articleshow/2522918.cms

[Mcky]

Hopefully the operation goes well.

As for reddevil0728, your comment was totally heartless. Imagine if your child had this condition too. Think before you post. :angry3:

[bluecoral]

hmmm sad but then hope all is well now ba...

[yunzhong]

reddevil deleted his comment but damage was done =/

anyway.. any news on this ?

on a side note, i din know healthcare in india was that powerful.. but den again i believe it has a link to the God u guys are talking bout.. she should be all right.. i believe its e first time in my life i seen such a familarity between Gods and Humans.

[Hurricaneboi]

woah!

[patsie]

actually i dont think she'd be able to move all her legs and hands. only a pair i'm guessing, the other pair didnt belong to her, but her twin, but the cells were not reabsorbed properly.

[Puddie]

actually i dont think she'd be able to move all her legs and hands. only a pair i'm guessing, the other pair didnt belong to her, but her twin, but the cells were not reabsorbed properly.

Yeah... but there've been cases of parasitic twins where the main twin can control the other too...Hmm.. Her extra hands and legs look kinda limp, though.

[val_wilder]

really not funny. better change ur nick from reddevil to redoctopus post manic!

Hope the kid operation success.

[Puddie]

Good news... :hat1: Great Diwali for the family too..!

'Eight-limbed' girl recovers after surgery

By Sam Relph and Peter Foster in New Delhi

Last Updated: 2:27am GMT 08/11/2007

A two-year-old Indian girl born with four arms and four legs was recovering in intensive care today after a successful 27-hour operation to remove her headless, conjoined twin.

Lakshmi Tatma, the daughter of a poor Indian labourer from the eastern Indian state of Bihar, was given an 80 per cent chance of pulling through the surgery which should enable her to walk and move like an ordinary child.


"She has withstood the operation, she is safe and doing well,” said Dr Sharan Patil, the consultant orthopaedic surgeon who led the 36-stong team that operated on Lakshmi,

"We will keep a close watch on her for the next 48 to 72 hours and won’t move from the hospital until she stabilises."

The £30,000 operation, which has been performed free of cost by the hospital, was fraught with difficulty as surgeons separated Lakshmi from the headless, "parasitic" twin that was attached to her pelvis at birth.


When she was born the inhabitants of her rural village believed she was a ’gift from God’ and christened her ’Lakshmi’ after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth.


Her parents, Shambhu and Poonam, were "overwhelmed" to hear that the surgery had been completed successfully and were allowed to see their daughter’s for just a few minutes yesterday afternoon.


The surgery had proved too traumatic for Poonam who collapsed and required sedation after watching her daughter going under general anaesthetic at the Narayana Health City on the outskirts of Bangalore on Tuesday.


When Dr Patil went to tell the family about the success of the operation he was met by with dumbfounded silence from Lakshmi’s mother, who had not eaten for two days due to stress.


Later, after being admitted to the intensive care unit, both parents tenderly touched Lakshmi, appearing scared to move too close after doctors warned of the dangers of infection.


After applying antiseptic soap to their hands, they gently lifted up the covers and saw their daughter, swathed in bandages, but for the first time with two legs.


After leaving the intensive care unit, Poonam slumped against the wall and shed tears of relief as her husband comforted her.


As well as removing four extraneous limbs, surgeons also transplanted a healthy kidney from the headless twin to Lakshmi and used bone grafts to close her pelvic bones which were set at right-angles to each other.


Doctors said the closure of Lakshmi’s pelvis - a procedure which had been slated to take three weeks using an ’external fixator’ to apply gradual pressure - was an unexpected bonus.


"Every step was successful. There was no setback whatsoever," Dr Patil added, looking tired but content in a blue surgeon’s gown, "We were able to bring the pelvic bones together successfully, which takes away the need for another procedure."


Medical teams will now observe Lakshmi until she is out of immediate danger from the operation before assessing how successful they have been in giving her the chance to lead a normal life.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/07/wlimbs307.xml

Here's a pic from another article:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/Lakshmi1AP_468x473.jpg

[c1em3ntchua]

:thumbs_up for the docs

[Hurricaneboi]

oh yeah! great success! :thumb2:

[yunzhong]

change my perspective towards healthcare in india.. serious... i din know they're equipped with the highest tech for healthcare industry these days.. kudos to them.

[SpeedingBullet]

Whoa! Good job man!

Respect... SG shd import such FTs into our healthcare sector loh...:x

[XProfessionalX]

Wish the little girl speedy recovery ..

[skweam]

apart from the limbs, shes actually a pretty girl. lucky the circus din get her sia @_@ reminded me of a show i watched last time about a freak circus..

PS: comments on first page were superb :D

[kerrigan]

change my perspective towards healthcare in india.. serious... i din know they're equipped with the highest tech for healthcare industry these days.. kudos to them.

kudos to the indian doctors and they never boasted about world class

if its done by sg doctors i bet it's going to be all over the news and "world class", "world first" will be splashed all over every media you can think of

that shows we do not need a "world class" medical facility

best of all the operation (a few hundred K which was a lot of money in India) was done free simply because the girl's parents couldnt afford it

if its sg .. u can wait long long

[Puddie]

kudos to the indian doctors and they never boasted about world class

if its done by sg doctors i bet it's going to be all over the news and "world class", "world first" will be splashed all over every media you can think of

that shows we do not need a "world class" medical facility

best of all the operation (a few hundred K which was a lot of money in India) was done free simply because the girl's parents couldnt afford it

if its sg .. u can wait long long

It will be free in Singapore..think the Iraqi Siamese twins operation was free too..albeit not a success..

[yunzhong]

kudos to the indian doctors and they never boasted about world class

if its done by sg doctors i bet it's going to be all over the news and "world class", "world first" will be splashed all over every media you can think of

that shows we do not need a "world class" medical facility

best of all the operation (a few hundred K which was a lot of money in India) was done free simply because the girl's parents couldnt afford it

if its sg .. u can wait long long

as a matter of fact, that's life.

welcome to singapore.

[Arayden]

Currently the most Epic operation, ever.

[Puddie]

Currently the most Epic operation, ever.

I did come across an article which said it wasn't all that complicated... the surgeon said so himself..

[dxter]

apart from the limbs, shes actually a pretty girl. lucky the circus din get her sia @_@ reminded me of a show i watched last time about a freak circus..

PS: comments on first page were superb :D

Ya, later exhibit as spidergirl. :shakefist

Speedy recovery to the girl man! God bless.

[Arayden]

I did come across an article which said it wasn't all that complicated... the surgeon said so himself..

Reminded me of the poor siamese twins. But eitherways for the parents, that has got to be pretty Epic. Hope Lashiki can enjoy a normal life :3

[yunzhong]

it remains to be seen too if she can live for long... usually those documentaries i saw... including 'the girl who never saw daylight' . even if it's successful, a max of 2 yrs is a bonus to them, so far from episodes... hopefully she would live longer to enjoy her life which she solely missed in her past.

[Puddie]

Formerly 8-armed little girl wakes up, wonders where her extra limbs went.

Doctors Say She May Surprise Everyone and Walk in Two Weeks

By KAREN RUSSO

BANGALORE, India, Nov. 12, 2007 —

After the marathon 27-hour surgery to remove extra limbs from little Lakshmi Tatma's body, her progress is now being measured in small but significant increments: Saturday, she came off the ventilator; she drank some milk; she wiggled her toes. Sunday, she ate three pieces of bread.

These steps of progress indicate that the 2-year-old is recovering very well. But perhaps the most significant indication is that Lakshmi appears to understand what has happened to her.

"Maybe it's my imagination, but I can see her. & She just gives one stare down her limbs and I can see she is saying, 'Where have they gone?'" said Sharan Patil, chief orthopedic surgeon and chairman of Sparsh Hospital, where the surgery was performed.

Patil led the team of 30 surgeons who separated what was essentially a headless parasitic twin joined at the girl's pelvis. Parasitic twins differ from conjoined twins because they are not fully formed and they depend upon the twin on the body functions of the complete fetus.

During the surgery, the spine was cut to remove the extra limbs and the wide gap between the pelvic bones was closed using bone grafts. The closed gap was a significant accomplishment for the surgeons, who had thought they may have to close it over the course of several surgeries.

"She responds extremely well to her parents walking into the ICU. Anybody calls her name, she quickly turns around, which is heartening to see," he said. "She's moving her toes, moving her hands freely."

Lakshmi is stabilized, but the biggest concern right now is infection due to the enormous wounds from her surgery. Doctors hope that she will leave the intensive care unit today.

Outside the hospital, which is surrounded by palm trees, satellite trucks and local media fill the red dirt driveway, awaiting news on the little girl who has captured worldwide attention. Inside, Lakshmi's parents spent about three hours with her Sunday morning. Lakshmi has months of rehabilitation ahead of her, including potential surgery to fix her club feet, as well as an additional surgery due to the repositioning of her organs. But doctors do not expect to do these surgeries soon.

"She's a fantastic child in terms of the speed with the tissue recovering now and she's withstanding the procedure well," said. Patil. "She might surprise all of us with making an attempt at walking within the next six weeks."

In late September, Patil traveled to the family's village in the remote and poor Indian state of Bihar after receiving a call from a social worker seeking help for Lakshmi's condition.

Sparsh Hospital, which is less than 2 years old, was created to help the middle and lower classes of India to receive quality care. The hospital has taken unique approaches to execute this concept by cutting costs, including opening a facility on the outskirts of Bangalore, instead of the high-priced downtown. The hospital's foundation donated the cost of the surgery, estimated at $625,000.

Lakshmi's father, Shambhu, and mother, Poonem, had tried to find medical help for their daughter, but were told surgery was not possible. The family struggled financially, particularly because only one parent could work while the other cared for Lakshmi who was constantly running a fever. Survival rates for conjoined twins can be as low as 5 percent; doctors believed that Lakshmi would likely die in her teens without surgery.

In their village, which has just 150 homes and no electricity, Lakshmi's parents tried to give her in as normal a life as possible. But in the region, villagers considered her to be the reincarnation of Laxmi, the multilimbed goddess of wealth. Some people even tried to buy Lakshmi to put her in the circus.

When. Patil met the 2-year-old, he said he was unprepared for what he saw.

"Even though I'm a medical man and having seen the most grotesque things, it was quite shocking. I'd never seen anything in life like it before," he said. "The way she was moving around with that body, it was quite difficult and it was quite touching. Her older brother was running around and she was envying him."

About a week after the doctor's visit, the family traveled to Bangalore to prepare for the surgery.

For Lakshmi and her parents the trip to the hospital was the longest of their lives. When they arrived in Bangalore, they rode in a car for the first time. And Poonem, who is six months pregnant, received her first ultrasound, which indicated that her unborn child is healthy.

"We have tried to touch their lives, but it's been reversed now. We have become much enriched by having Lakshmi in our hospital," said Patil. "This is probably the best thing that's happened in my career. I'm able to reach out and help somebody who needed it most and nothing could have pleased me more. It's a very nice feeling."

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures



http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3851629&page=1

[Small_Kid]

the indians will worship her . i remember watching something on TV, got this kid got a tail or something and people all over india go to worship him