Two-year-old Lakshmi Tatma, an Indian girl born with a parasitic twin which caused her to have four arms and four legs, has been released from the hospital in apparently excellent condition. While she had never been able to stand or even to roll over prior to the surgery, she is now doing both. It took 30 surgeons working shifts in a 27-hour operation to remove the parasitic twin.
Parasitic twins occur once in every 500,000 births, and their survival rate is about 2%. Doctors said that Lakshmi would not live into her teens without the surgery.
Lakshmi is one half of a conjoined twin, but without a living sibling. Her condition is called “ischiopagus”. It is caused by a “parasitic twin” which stopped developing in the womb, but is absorbed by the surviving twin. Lakshmi absorbed her twin’s arms and legs, its kidneys, its stomach and chest cavities, as well as a series of nerves.
Born desperately poor, Lakshmi’s parents could not afford the operation necessary to save her life, but a hospital foundation in Bangalore, India, performed it for free, and doctors and nurses donated their time and expertise. It took over a month to plan the complex surgery.
The surgeons removed the extra body parts, and separated Lakshmi’s spine from her twin’s spine, as the two spines had fused. Surgeons used tissue from the twin to rebuild her pelvis. In order to save Lakshmi’s kidney, doctors removed the kidney from the “parasitic abdomen” and move it into Lakshmi’s own abdomen.
However, the surgery was met with a great deal of controversy, since many in India considered Lakshmi to be the manifestation of her namesake, the multi-limbed Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity. When Lakshmi was young her parents allowed others to see her, but stopped after they were approached by men who wanted to place her in a circus, out of fear that she would be kidnapped.
Now, a month after surgery, it is believed that little Lakshmi will be able to walk and have a normal life, though she may need additional surgeries.
thats really good . i like the dedication of the surgeons there, the country is really good and helpful .
spine surgery
One of the best posts I have seen in a long time is…
woah… im just speechless and astonished to see such a wholehearted support and dedication from everyone who had placed an effort in this great achievement! this is truly India- as each and every one of the country’s people come together and forgetting disputes just because one person was in pain. I just hope that God blesses you all– everyone who had contributed to this!
[...] surprised me even more about this is that just recently, I wrote about another little girl also born in India, Lakshmi Tatma, who was also viewed as the reincarnation of a goddess. Lakshmi had been born with a parasitic twin [...]
really thats love the human thanks for the doctor . god help alll for dont see that again allah ilove u so muchh i beilive u all u make for take exam ..
VERY good work congrats! I hope the best in Life for the Little girl and her Famelie.
I saw the Reportage on TV and gave me power for my Life.
Its sooo hard to save a life and so easy to take it like Todays New from a Bomb blast in a Bus.
STOP WARs STOP Killing!
really appreciate the doctors and nurses who contributed their valuable time for a child’s normal life. may god bless them and lakshmi.
i recently found out that i am pregnant with a baby very close to this one. it has one head 2 arms but 4 legs and 2 compleatly seperate spines. there are 4 kidneys and 2 bladders but only one heart.
although they did not say my baby was a parasitic twin but a rare form of conjoined twins. they said the chance of survival is very low. this gives me hope and i think i may reconsider aborting the pregnancy
Meg, I am very sorry to hear this. Whatever you decide, I will be behind you 110%. Let me know if there is anything I can do.
I think you should certainly consider abortion. Its very heartbreaking to see kids go through such pain.
i feel so happy, nothing is imposible with good effort. i cant to c the doctors photos to publish in net…
Oh poor little girl I hope she gets a good life! I would of been dead if i waz i dat situashan!