A baby in India born with a 12cm 'tail' has had
it removed at just five days old. It was revealed that the baby was born with a
heteropagus conjoined twin, where his sibling was anatomically incomplete and
had formed as a tail on his back. If left untreated, this child's growth may
have become cancerous, so his parents and medical team at Aarna Superspeciality
Hospital, in Ahmedabad, North West India, were keen to operate. His mother,
Jamnibhen Patel, from Fatehgarh village, in Gujarat, says she was devastated
her fourth child had such a deformity and insisted that it must be removed to
enable the child live a normal life.
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| Doctors preparing the baby for the 4Hr surgery |
Dr Rohit Joshi, chairman of the hospital where
surgery took place, said: ‘Heteropagus conjoined twins are asymmetrically
conjoined twins. [They] differ in several ways from symmetrical conjoined
twins, as they have no major connection of vessels, bowels or bones. ‘It is
more commonly reported in India and Africa.’ He added that such an anomaly can
be detected in the prenatal period with an ultrasound and then confirmed with
an MRI.
The baby underwent a four-hour operation to
remove the 350g growth, despite the fact keeping it could have given him a
privileged life in India. It would be recalled that twelve-year-old Arshid AliKhan, or Balaji to his worshippers, has a six inch tail and Hindu followers
flock to see him daily at his temple near Chandigarh, northern India. The operation
was funded with help from community authorities and well-wishers.
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