Indian boy born with 4 legs, 2 penises undergoes successful surgery

An Indian boy who was born with four legs and two penises has undergone a successful surgery.  

Doctors at Bangalore's Narayana Health City described the complexities of the case to local reporters at a news conference today saying the boy was born with polymelia; a rare congenital birth defect that results in extra limbs or organs, which are usually deformed.

"These are problems that happen from time to time irrespective of socio-economic status," said Dr. Sanjay Rao, a senior consultant pediatric surgeon.

The procedure required a team of 20 doctors, nurses and technicians over a period of 5hours to complete the surgery. 

"Because the anatomy is not typical, a lot of work had to be done before the operation to clearly define the anatomy, what structures are shared between the parasitic twin and the main baby, the blood vessels need to be identified to control blood loss so there was a lot of pre-operative work to build a road map that would help us during the operation," he said.

It's the fourth case the hospital has dealt with in the past decade including one in 2008 on a baby girl, Lakshmi Tatma, born in the northern state of Bihar with four legs and four arms.