In a rare medical phenomenon, a dead foetus was found inside the abdomen of a four-year-old boy in a West Bengal district. The boy was admitted to a local nursing home with severe stomach pain and it was initially suspected that a tumour was causing it, said Dr Sirshendu Giri, who treated the boy.
However, after conducting tests like USG and CT scan, it was found that a dead embryo was inside the boy’s abdomen. He was operated upon last night and the foetus with hands, legs, nails and partially formed head was removed.
The boy is stable but still under observation. This phenomenon occurs during early pregnancy when one twin enters into the other through the umbilical cord and becomes something like a parasite to the host baby. After birth, it becomes an abdominal mass. This medical abnormality called “foetus in foetu” (baby within a baby) is rare as it occurred once in every five to six lakh people, the doctor added.
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