A newborn baby shocked doctors after they discovered a parasitic twin growing inside her.
The female tot had been admitted to hospital at just 11 days old after her stomach became distended, and was growing in size.
A 4D ultrasound found a mass measuring 8x6cm, and an abdominal examination found a lump with a “soft to firm consistency” and “irregular surface”, that didn’t move when she breathed.
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A contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan of the stomach and pelvis again highlighted the mass, this time showing malformed skeletal parts resembling long bones, ribs, vertebrae, pelvic bones, and soft tissue.
Doctors could see it was fed by a large artery and they confirmed the finding as a case of fetus in fetu – an extremely rare anomaly that occurs when a malformed parasitic twin develops inside the body of its sibling.
Surgeons performed a laparotomy – an incision into the abdominal cavity – and found the mass near the liver, as reports Need To Know.
They removed the mass, which was enclosed in a sac that contained fat, malformed tissue, two limbs, and an umbilical cord.
A microscopic examination found it had ‘mature embryonic tissue’ with skin and intestines also present.
Incredibly, prior to the shocking discovery, the baby girl had been eating and passing stool as normal, and had no other symptoms.
An abdominal drain was removed from the tot after four days in hospital, and she was discharged after an “uneventful” recovery.
The shocking case was reported in a medical journal this month, with the child treated at Mansoura University paediatric unit in Egypt.
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