An X-ray shared by an emergency physician left thousands of people completely baffled: the image appears to show the skeleton of a baby inside a woman’s abdomen.
The photograph was posted on social media by American physician Dr. Sam Ghali, who described it as one of the most incredible X-rays he had ever seen and asked his followers if they could identify the diagnosis.
The answer was as strange as the image itself: it was a lithopedion, popularly known as a “stone baby”.
This condition can occur after an abdominal ectopic pregnancy. When the nonviable fetus dies and remains inside the abdomen, the body may begin depositing calcium around the remains to isolate them and prevent complications.
Over time, the tissue can become completely calcified, giving it the appearance of a small stone skeleton.
Most surprising is that these cases can remain undiscovered for years, as some people do not experience significant symptoms and the condition ends up being found accidentally during an X-ray, a CT scan, or surgery for another reason.
The doctor’s post quickly drew attention online, where many people admitted that they initially thought the image was fake.
And although it may seem like something out of a horror movie, there is a medical explanation for one of the strangest images an X-ray can reveal.