First stage of operation on 8-limb girl successful

First stage of operation on 8-limb girl successful

A doctor is talking to Lakshmi Tatma, born with four legs and four arms, at Sparsh Hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore Monday, Nov. 6, 2007.

Doctors at Sparsh Hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore began a huge operation Tuesday on a 2-year-old girl, Lakshmi Tatma, born with four legs and four arms. The operation will last 40 hours and the first stage was successful, according to Indian media reports.

Half of the limbs connected with the girl belong to a headless conjoined twin who stopped developing in their mother's womb and joins to Lakshmi at the pelvis.

"We've managed to remove the parasitic twin out of Lakshmi's body and started reconstructing her pelvic bone. We have managed to get the pelvic bone together," head surgeon Dr. Sharan Patil said.

There are some 30 surgeons in the operation team, including specialists in pediatrics, neurosurgery, orthopedics and plastic surgery.

Without this operation, doctors said, Lakshmi would be unlikely to survive beyond early adolescence.

(Agencies)

Lakshmi can not walk or crawl and is unlikely to survive her teens without surgery.

Lakshmi Tatma, born with four legs and four arms, with her mum at Sparsh Hospital in the southern Indian city of Bangalore Monday, Nov. 6, 2007.

Skeleton of Lakshmi.

Lakshmi.(Source: Agencies)