Ludhiana doctors successfully remove infant’s third leg in six-hr surgery
The boy had a birth defect — tripod deformity — where an additional rudimentary leg was arising from the back besides the two normal legs and the third leg was neurologically intact although the power in that leg was reduced
In a rare surgery which lasted six hours, doctors successfully removed an extra leg of a one-year-old boy of Haibowal at a hospital in Model Town here.
The boy had a birth defect — tripod deformity — where an additional rudimentary leg was arising from the back besides the two normal legs and the third leg was neurologically intact although the power in that leg was reduced.
Four doctors performed the corrective surgery on the infant who currently under observation at the paediatric ICU and is recovering.
The boy belongs to a low-income family of labourers and was taken to the hospital with the help of a city-based NGO which bore the expenses ( ₹1.25 lakh) of the surgery.
The doctors stated that the birth defect was seemingly due to a parasitic Siamese twin, the body of which degenerated leaving the leg behind, which fused with the back of the other twin. The third leg was neurologically intact although the power in that leg was compromised.
Deep Hospital director Dr Baldeep Singh said the patient’s MRI scan indicated the presence of femur tibia fibula and the knee joint in the additional leg. The expert panel of doctors at the hospital decided to perform a corrective surgery to remove the third leg.
The surgery required a multi-disciplinary approach and was carried out by neurosurgeon Dr RK Kaushal, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Mohammad Yamin, paediatrics surgeon Dr RJ Singh and senior plastic surgery consultant Dr RavindraTah.
Dr Kaushal said, “There was a spinal cord connection of the third leg with an associated meningomyelocele (MMC). The MMC was repaired and the nerve connections to the accessory leg were detached carefully sparing the nerve fibres of the normal lower extremities.”
“The rudimentary leg showed an additional femur and other lower limb bones, but the shape and anatomy of those bones were not normal. So, the amputation was done extremely carefully keeping in mind the presence of nerve bundles and spinal vertebrae.” said Dr Yamin.