Surgeons to remove 'parasitic twin'
Doctors in India have begun a marathon operation on a young girl born with four arms and four legs.
Two year old Lakshmi, named after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth, is joined to a 'parasitic twin' who stopped developing in her mother's womb.
She absorbed the limbs, kidneys and other body parts of the undeveloped foetus.
The rare condition is called isciopagus.
Lakshmi will be operated on by a team of 30 doctors at Sparsh Hospital in Bangalore, who'll work to remove the extra limbs and organs.
The procedure is expected to take up to 48 hours.
Lead surgeon Doctor Sharan Patil admits there is a chance things could go wrong: "They put the risk of losing the baby at about 20 percent, anything between 20 and 25 percent."
© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
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