Bangalore: Fetus-in-fetu removed from 2-month-old

In a rare-yet-common case, a two-month-old baby was recently rushed to St. Philomena’s Hospital couple of days back with a foetus in his tummy. The foetus -in-fetu, a rare congenital anomaly, was found by the doctors after a MRI scan. When his parents were giving the two-month-old boy shower every day, they found that his stomach was not looking normal and there was an abnormal growth. When they brought him to the doctor they were surprised to hear that the baby had another foetus growing inside of him.

Dr Antony Robert Charles, the paediatric surgeon diagnosed this case is foetus -in-Fetu. Speaking to Bangalore Mirror he said, “When they brought him to us, we did an MRI scan and confirmed that he had a foetus inside his tummy. The kid had to undergo an operation and the foetus was removed.”

On Tuesday, this two-month-old underwent a surgery in St. Philomena’s hospital where the living fetus was removed from his stomach. “This is a rare case but it is also common. What happens is that while the embryos are forming for twin children, they grow separately. In case of a foetus -infetu, one embryo gets into the other. It is a living fetus wherein the blood supply will still be there and it will keep growing as the child keeps growing,” added Dr. Charles.

Doctor said that when the foetus was removed from the two-month-old’s stomach, it had the outer membrane like babies form inside a foetus . “It was same like the normal baby, but it was not fully grown with all features. It only had legs, hands and back, covered in membrane. There were no complications during the surgery and it doesn’t affect the child. Kids are often operated just after they are born,” said the doctor.