Doctors from the Egyptian city of Al-Mansoura were shocked when they found out why a newborn baby has a bloated belly. It turned out that the body of an eleven-day-old girl contained parts of her parasitic twin. , despite this rare diagnosis, experts revealed that the child had no serious medical problems.
- Doctors discovered that the newborn had a parasitic twin in his body.
- The mass in the abdomen contained deformed skeleton and soft tissue.
- The anomaly, known as fetus in fetu, is extremely rare.
A shocking case happened at the pediatric department of Mansoura University in Egypt. Doctors admitted a young child to hospital after his stomach swelled after birth. They performed an ultrasound which revealed an 8 x 6 cm mass. On later examination of the abdomen, they also found an unusual lump with a soft consistency and an irregular surface that did not move with breathing.
The doctors’ diagnosis really surprised them. (illustrative photo)
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The experts decided to do a CT scan of the girl’s stomach and pelvis. Thanks to him, they found out that it was not ordinary mass, but deformed parts of soft tissue and skeleton, including ribs, vertebrae and pelvis. Doctors confirmed that this is a case of fetus in fetu, an extremely rare anomaly that occurs when a parasitic twin develops inside a child’s body.
Since medical records began, fewer than 200 cases of fetus in fetu have been reported worldwide. It is assumed that occurs in identical twin pregnancies when one of them does not develop properly and is instead absorbed by the other child’s body.
Surgeons emphasized that after receiving the diagnosis, they performed a laparotomy, a procedure in which the abdominal cavity is opened. They discovered a mass near the liver, which was located in a fat bag together with deformed limbs and an umbilical cord. Interestingly, despite this problem, the little girl was eating normally and had no other symptoms. After four days in the hospital, he made a full recovery.
