Lakshmi – The Girl Born With Eight Limbs
The condition is called polymelia – it is when a person is born with more limbs than usual (the usual, in case you’ve forgotten, is four). The condition can result from twins becoming fused together in the womb – one survives and the non-surviving twin’s limbs are attached to the living twin. This condition is further called ischiopagus. Other times, the body axis becomes distorted and the child can grow extra legs.
The former is what happened with Lakshmi Tatma, who was born with four legs and four arms.
Granted, this story is kind of old, but it’s definitely worth noting, here in a place where we talk about unusual medical conditions. Lakshmi was born in 2005, and had a risky operation in November of 2007 to correct her very unusual condition. Lakshmi, named after the Hindu goddess with four arms, was born in Bihar, India, a very poor part of the country.
A circus tried to buy her, and the people from her town thought she was the incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, but all her parents wanted was for their little girl to have a normal life. They approached doctors in Bangalore and a team of surgeons started planning the best and safest way to remove Lakshmi’s extra limbs, which kept her from functioning normally.
A team of 30 surgeons set about removing Lakshmi’s cojoined twin – an almost-complete mirrored body that had not only its own arms and legs, but also its own nerves, chest cavity, stomach, and kidneys. Twenty seven hours later, the $625,000 surgery was complete. Luckily, Lakshmi’s family did not have to pay. The situation was so very unique that the hospital’s foundation footed the bill
And so little Lakshmi, who was not expected to live past her teenage years and who could neither walk nor crawl, was expected to make a full recovery and lead a normal life. Dr. Saharan Patil and his team removed the extra limbs, the extra organs, and corrected the malformed spine and pelvis.
x-ray of Lakshmi after the operation
Lakshmi in the hospital
Lakshmi with her father
At the end of January, 2010, we got an update on a four-year old Lakshmi who can stand and walk on her own two feet, and had already started school. She still has lingering health problems, including scoliosis and some digestive issues, but there are doctors who are committed to helping her, no matter how much it costs. This is a very special little girl, and they want to keep her happy and healthy for a very long time.
Lakshmi at four
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i like to get more information about this case, since I also have one case recently> 8 yrs old boy with an extra upper limb attached on his vertebrae, it was upper limb like structure with upper arm<ower arm, palmar and its fingers like still fused with nails growing.
from x-ray the bone structure consist of humerus like bone with glenoid part can be distinguished, lower arm single bone,metacarpal consist two bone..with moveable glenoid like and elbow joints.
with our limitancy here and no data before, we do excise the extra limb. on the operation we can identified the main vascular artery positioned like brachial artery, complete joint with its capsule. The excision we do at the base with elips incision,layers by layers to its base at the joint. No connection to the spine canal or vertebrae. operation did well with very little bleeding, and the paatient discharged on the 4th day of surgery.
I do have difficulty in making the diagnosis and literature on this case. Can you share me any information??
Sincerely,
Julias Arief Komala,MD
Sr Resident General Surgery Dept, Sam Ratulangi University of Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
Cell: +0628124300898