Doctors remove baby's third arm

Tuesday, June 6, 2006; Posted: 1:04 a.m. EDT (05:04 GMT)
Doctors say the boy will require long-term physical therapy. Options considered for boy born with a well-formed third arm

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Doctors on Tuesday successfully removed an unusually well-formed third arm from a two-month-old Chinese boy.

Neither of the boy's two left arms is fully functional, but doctors decided to remove the one growing closer to his chest after tests showed it was less developed, said Dr. Chen Bochang, head of the orthopedics department at Shanghai Children's Medical Center.

"The surgery was quite successful," Chen said following the three-hour operation. "Now we're just waiting for the patient to wake up." The boy, identified only as "Jie-jie," would require long-term physical therapy to build strength in the hand on his remaining arm, Chen said.

The boy also was born with just one kidney and may have problems that could lead to curvature of the spine, local media reports said. Jie-jie cried when either of his left arms was touched, but smiled and responded normally to other stimuli, the reports said.