Dr Patil takes up the tale, "The parents were very attached to the child. When I went to Bihar after reading about her, I took it upon myself to operate upon this girl and ensure she led a normal life. The parents were only too willing to get the child operated. The hospital was ready to bear the cost of the operation, which was estimated at Rs 26 lakh."
The complicated operation, which took 27 hours, was conducted by a team of 30 doctors. Initially, they expected the surgery to last 40 hours. The success rate in such cases has not been very encouraging. Only 1 in 50,000 cases are successful, says Dr Patil.
In the first stage of the complicated surgery, the neurosurgical team successfully separated the spines of the twins. The doctors described this as the most critical part of the surgery; the cerebro-spinal fluid could have leaked, which could have proved fatal.
In the second stage, the doctors separated the organs and reconstructed the pelvic ring. Dr Patil said this was a major achievement as they succeeded in bringing the pelvic ring bones together. With this, the doctors successfully managed to separate Lakshmi from her parasitic, conjoined twin. Lakshmi was put on the ventilator immediately after the 27-hour operation.
Image: Lakshmi after the surgery
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