Doctors saved a baby born with three legs after the mother refused to have an abortion.
Remarkable images show the Russian boy before and after surgery to remove the extra limb.
Medics in Moscow believe the third leg, with two heels, came from a twin that did not fully develop in the mother’s womb.
The additional limb was located between the two normal legs.
The child was also born with two genitals and double urinary systems but no anus.
The additional leg was spotted during a routine scan on the unidentified mother who lives in a provincial Russian region.
The mother declined an abortion and the child was delivered in a natural birth, say reports.
An urgent operation was carried out after birth to allow the child to defecate.
One month later the boy’s middle leg was removed at Holy Vladimir Children Hospital in Moscow by one of Russia’s top paediatric surgeons Professor Yury Sokolov, 55, accompanied by Dr Evgenia Kartseva.
The baby was born in July last year but the case is only revealed now.
In February this year urologists removed the child’s additional genitals and second set of urinary organs.
The baby then had surgery to shape the anus in the correct location.
“Most likely, at the beginning these were twins,” said a medical source.
“The middle leg had two heels.
“These had to be two boys, but (in the womb) it turned into just one baby.”
Following the surgeries, the boy is now walking and can look forward to a normal life.
One further operation is needed in three months to allow for the normal use of the anus, say the medics.
A Moscow health department source said: “The boy is 14 months old now.
"He is walking and looking around at the world.
“He is curious.”
