A baby just 2 and a half months old became the subject of one of the strangest medical cases on record: doctors discovered that he had two structures with fetal characteristics inside his abdomen.
The infant, a boy of Asian-Indian origin, underwent imaging studies after doctors suspected that something unusual was happening in his abdomen. An ultrasound and later a CT scan revealed two fetal-looking masses located in the retroperitoneal space.
But it was not a common tumor.
Doctors diagnosed an extremely rare condition known as “fetus in fetu”, which occurs when a malformed twin becomes incorporated into the body of its sibling during the early stages of embryonic development.
What was extraordinary about this case is that there was not one, but two.
Both structures were removed through surgery and subsequently examined. X-rays of the specimens showed features consistent with vertebral structures and limbs, while microscopic analyses also supported the diagnosis of fetus in fetu.
The condition is so rare that the case authors noted there were fewer than 100 cases of twin fetus in fetu described in the medical literature up to that point.
Although the image may seem like something out of a horror movie, there is an explanation related to twin development. During the early stages of pregnancy, one embryo can become incorporated into the other and continue developing in an extremely abnormal way.
Unlike a teratoma, these cases can show a recognizable body organization, such as a vertebral column or limbs.
In this case, surgery made it possible to remove both structures and was considered a curative treatment.
A baby only two months old carried in his own abdomen one of the strangest anomalies that embryonic development can produce.