Chinese teen found living with 4 kidneys

Beijing: In a rare disorder, a 17-year-old Chinese girl has been found with four kidneys after she went to the hospital for recurring back pain.

Xiaolin was healthy all her childhood but visited hospital for treatment after having lower back pain regularly.

An ultrasound she underwent showed her with four kidneys, leaving people shocked, state-run People's Daily reported.

A doctor related to the case explained that it was a disease called renal duplex monstrosity.

"The mortality rate for this is one in 1,500 people, which means most of the people would not even realise they have this problem throughout their entire life," the doctor said.

The additional kidneys are not much of use as they usually attach themselves to the regular functioning ones and thus they cannot be easily removed, the report said.

"Consequently, functionally speaking, extra kidneys cannot be removed and used to help others in need," said the doctor.

Doctors eventually performed a ureteral reimplantation surgery and removed Xiaolin's extra kidneys after which she is recovering well from the operation, it said.