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BANGALORE - INDIAN surgeons have successfully removed the extra limbs from a two-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs in a gruelling operation that lasted more than a day.
The girl, named Lakshmi after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, was born fused at the pelvis to a 'parasitic twin' that stopped developing in the womb.
Lakshmi is now breathing with the aid of a ventilator and under observation in the intensive care unit of Bangalore's Sparsh Hospital.
'I'm very relieved and proud of my team,' said Dr Sharan Patil, the orthopaedic surgeon who led the team that operated on her.
The operation began on Tuesday and ended yesterday.
'But we still have 48 to 72 hours in the post-operative period we have to be extremely careful about. She is a very small, delicate child and has been through a major operation,' said Dr Patil.
'Even very small things can cause a major impact, so we are keeping a very close watch on her.'
A team of 36 doctors covering a range of specialities from paediatrics to plastic surgery removed Lakshmi's extra limbs, saved one of her kidneys that was in both bodies and reconstructed her pelvis.
Doctors said the girl would have been unlikely to live into her teens with her condition.
'The surgery went according to plan - every step of it was successful. There were no setbacks whatsoever,' a tired but cheerful Dr Patil told a press conference.
Doctors had said that Lakshmi had an 80 per cent chance of surviving the procedure.
'We have to monitor her very closely for the next two to three days before we are able to say anything more,' said hospital spokeswoman Mamatha Patil.
'Having said that, she is not in any kind of danger right now,' she added.
'The operation was a success, and she looks normal now, with two arms and two legs.'
Lakshmi, from eastern Bihar state, was brought to Bangalore by her parents for the surgery.
The hospital bore the cost of the operation, estimated at 2.4 million rupees (S$88,000).
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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