heidi
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 Posted: 06/07/06 - 11:58 Post subject: Doctors successfully removed baby's third arm |
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We have already written about Jie Jie, a Chinese baby that was born with two left arms. Although there were similar cases before, Jie Jie’s situation is different because both of his arms have equally developed and it was hard for surgeons to decide which of the arms to remove.
In those other cases, it was pretty clear which of the arms needed to be amputated. His doctors are still confused about what to do next and are ready to communicate with other surgeons from around the world who worked with similar cases.
Jie Jie’s surgeons decided to remove the arm that lay across his chest and left the one which is situated further up on his shoulder. It is now left to see how the remaining arm would react to the therapy.
Jie Jie will have to undergo a long-term physical therapy so that his left arm would gain function. The arm that was left doesn’t have a palm or flexes.
The boy’s parents, farmers from Anhui province, west of Shanghai, are happy that the surgery went well but also worried for the boy’s future and how the whole situation would influence his growth.
It is not known what factors exactly contributed to the growth of the extra limb. There are some speculations that it began as a limb of a conjoined twin that never developed. There isn’t any data available on the topic because when something like this happens, the fetus is either miscarried or aborted. Environmental cases have been ruled out. |
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