Lakshmi was brought back to life

Indian doctors saved a girl from her “divine” deformity

In an operation that lasted more than 24 hours, Indian neurosurgeons were able to separate conjoined twins born two years ago in the village of Archaria in the northern state of Bihar. More precisely, one viable girl was born, to whose body during intrauterine development the underdeveloped body of her sister was attached. The development of the second child apparently stopped at an early stage and went wrong from the very beginning, since by the time of birth his head had not formed. This means that the girl Lakshmi - as her parents named her in honor of the four-armed Indian goddess - just needed to be freed from an extra pair of legs and arms. The so-called “parasitic twin” was connected to Lakshmi precisely in the pelvic area and was completely dependent on the girl’s circulatory system. According to the unanimous opinion of doctors, without the operation the girl would not have lived very long.

But in order to get to real surgeons and take advantage of the benefits of medicine, it took the girl’s parents two years and a lot of courage. Immediately after the birth of the anomalous child, they took the girl to New Delhi, the nearest big city to their village. But before they had time to get to the hospital, the circus owners pestered them with persistent requests to sell the girl. Such medieval entertainment as a freak show easily coexists with advanced scientific achievements in one of the fastest growing countries in the world. Lakshmi's parents were deathly afraid of the traffickers and returned home empty-handed. And only after some time they again dared to turn to doctors, this time they invited doctors from Bangalore from the south of India. They were lucky: the surgeons agreed to perform a fabulously expensive operation completely free of charge. And they did it, according to the surgeon who led the operation, Sharan Patil, absolutely brilliantly.

At the first stage, the circulatory system and spine were divided and the healthy kidney of the “parasitic” twin was transferred into Lakshmi’s body. Then came an equally important moment: the legs that grew on the sides of the body were lowered down. “If the girl recovers as planned, then in a few weeks we will begin rehabilitation, we will begin to teach the girl to walk,” Dr. Patil told reporters after the completion of the operation, in which dozens of surgeons took part. In the coming months, the girl will have to undergo several more less complex interventions, during which doctors will try to reconstruct the deformed bones of her legs. Of course, if the favorable forecast comes true. The next two or three days “will be critical.” Now the operated girl is in intensive care under an artificial respiration apparatus. "Her condition will be assessed based on daily blood tests," Indian doctors said.

Scientists have known for a long time the reason for the birth of fused children. This occurs during the splitting stage of one common egg immediately after conception. Experts believe that if this process is delayed, the embryos remain fused. The reasons for the occurrence of such a delay are not fully understood, it is only clear that sometimes it is a genetic failure, and sometimes the influence of external factors - medications, environmental contamination. Siamese twins are born all over the world. During pregnancy, until fairly advanced stages, signs of fusion are not observed. According to statistics, a pair of such twins occurs every 10 million births, while normal twins are born once every 90 births.

Despite the fact that this phenomenon is truly rare, in the second half of the last century doctors learned to separate fused people with a very high degree of survival. Today, approximately every fourth twin who falls under the surgeon’s knife dies.

Galina PAPERNAYA