Doctors operate on girl with eight limbs - The Guardian 7th November 2007

A two-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs was yesterday undergoing surgery by a team of 40 doctors in an operation that the hospital hopes will leave her with a normal body. The girl, named Lakshmi after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, suffers from ischiopagus, a rare condition which means that she is joined to a "parasitic twin" who stopped developing in the womb. In the womb the surviving foetus absorbs the limbs, kidneys and other organs. In Lakshmi's case, the "twins" are joined at the pelvis and have one head and two pairs of arms and legs. The operation, paid for by one of India's new hi-tech multi-speciality hospitals in Bangalore, is a 40-hour ordeal. Doctors said last night that Lakshmi's condition was stable.

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Additional Stories

Doctors begin life-saving surgery on toddler with eight limbs - Daily Mail 7th November 2007

Girl separation surgery a success - BBC Health News 7th November 2007

Many-limbed India girl in surgery - BBC Health News 6th November 2007