Surgery for eight-limbed Iraqi baby

New Delhi: An Iraqi baby, born with eight limbs, including two protruding from his stomach, got a new lease of life after he underwent a surgery at an NCR hospital.

The doctors successfully removed the extra arms and legs of the seven-month old baby, Karam, through surgery.

Karam was born in Iraq with a rare condition, polymelia, a birth defect in which the affected individual has more than the usual number of limbs. The boy’s father, Sarwed Ahmed Nadar, flew the infant to India for surgery. 

A team of doctors at Jaypee Hospital in Noida performed the critical surgery in three stages.

“When Karam was brought to the hospital for the first time he was just two weeks old and his condition was very critical. After evaluating his condition and considering the risk factors we decided to operate him in multiple stages,” said Dr Gaurav Rathore, senior consultant in the Orthopaedics and Joint Replacement Department of the hospital said. In the first stage, Karam’s clubfeet was treated and the two limbs, which were protruding out of his stomach, were removed. The child then went back to Iraq and his family was in touch with the doctors through phone and email for important instructions.

In the next stage of the surgery, the other two limbs were also removed from his body.

However, as his left leg was not developed completely, doctors performed another surgery during which the muscles of the removed limbs were transplanted to his under developed leg. The baby’s crooked back was also treated with pelvic osteotomy surgery. Besides, he also suffered from corrected transposition of great arteries, a condition in which the heart’s formation is completely opposite to the natural biological formation. Karam, doctors said, is recovering well and the family is flying back to Iraq this Monday.