Indian Baby Born With Third Arm Protruding From Back; Infant Is Healthy Despite Rare Medical Phenomenon

A baby from India was born with an extra limb. The infant had a third arm protruding from its back.

Baby With Extra Limb Born in India

Daily Mail obtains photo and footage of a newborn from India with a third arm. The third limb is shorter than the others, and the hand has a three-digit-like projection. The outlet noted that the child is healthy despite experiencing an extremely rare medical condition.

In the clip, the baby appears to have just been born, as the umbilical cord is still attached. It lies on its side and cries when someone touches the extra limb sprouting from the back.

The child's details, including the name, sex, and delivery method, haven't been revealed.

Doctors diagnosed them with polymelia, a condition only reported a few times in medical literature. It remains how the condition will be treated, but the extra limbs were amputated in previous cases.

What Is Polymelia?

Polymelia is a rare congenital disability where a baby develops more than the usual number of limbs. The condition can be prevented with proper prenatal screening, according to MedIndia.

In the said congenital disability, the extra limb doesn't have a normal size and shape. It may appear shrunk in some cases.

Supernumerary limbs are the term used to describe the existence of extra limbs that are greater than the average number. Dipygus deformities, a severe congenital anomaly in which the body axis splits along the abdomen and the lower extremities, such as the pelvis and legs, duplicate, resulting in two pelvises and four legs, can be a form of polymelia.

According to NCBI, the additional limbs could be attached to various body parts. When it's attached to the head, it's called cephalomelia; when the extra limb is attached to the backbone, it's called notomelia; when it's attached to the thorax, it's called thoracomelia; and when it's found in the pelvis, it's called pyromelia.

It is challenging to determine the prevalence of polymelia alone in the Indian population. However, the prevalence of birth abnormalities as a whole range from 61 to 69.9/1000 live births. Given that polymelia is a very uncommon condition, it is conceivable that its prevalence represents only a tiny portion of all congenital disabilities.

How Common Is Polymelia?

There have been previous instances of polymelia reported in the past. In 2016, a baby girl from Delhi was born with an extra leg sprouting from her back.

Varsha Sena has two normal legs. However, the third one grew sideways out of her spine. Doctors from Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital successfully amputated it.

A baby boy from Iraq was also diagnosed with the same condition after being born with eight limbs after his conjoined twin did not form. Instead of growing a separate body, the underdeveloped baby's limbs were absorbed by the living twin.

The baby, who was only seven months at the time, was flown to India for a complex operation. Surgeons at Jaypee Hospital, Delhi, performed a three-stage operation to eliminate the unwanted arms and legs.

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