In a strange and one-of-a-kind occurrence, a Mumbai baby was born 'pregnant' with his twin brother! Yes, you read that right.
Soon after the birth of the baby at the Bilal Hospital in Mumbra, Mumbai, doctors reportedly discovered a half-formed human body parts inside his stomach. This half-formed male baby had legs, one arm and even a brain.
A rare case of 'foetus in foetu'
Dr Bhavna Thorat, who is a consulting radiologist at the Bilal Hospital first saw this abnormality when she conducted a routine scan on the newborn. She immediately informed other specialists.
“I saw some mass in the baby’s abdomen,” said Thorat while speaking to Scroll.in. “The presence of some bones made me curious,” she added.
Post some more tests for confirmation, it was found that the baby had a sac inside his abdomen.
"The foetus was feeding on his blood supply and nutrition"
“Inside the sac, there was another baby with a head with a well-developed brain,” Dr Thorat shared, adding, “I got to see the lower limbs, and we think that the parasitic twin had grown up to 13 weeks and then stopped.” Unfortunately, this twin parasite was suppressing the growth of the baby and made it necessary to be removed.
"His stomach also started swelling. The foetus was feeding on his blood supply and nutrition, while also suppressing his organs," Dr Thorat informed a daily.
After four days of his birth, the baby reportedly underwent a surgery at Titan Hospital, for what is now called a rare case of “foetus in foetu.”
Image courtesy: Dailymail/Newslions/SWNS.com
Fortunately, the baby and his mother are both doing well and are reportedly healthy.
This rare case has once again highlighted the need to understand the concept of "foetus in foetu,” which in many cases can lead to death. So here's what you need to know about this abnormality that can only be detected during routine pregnancy scans.
What is foetus in foetu?
In this case the doctors believed that the twin parasitic brother was a part of a monozygotic twin, which during development entered the body of the host baby.
In the medical condition of foetus-in-foetu, a parasitic twin resides inside the host twin. This usually occurs due to improper placement during the develop of the foetus.
This phenomenon is quite rare and occurs perhaps one in 500 cases. A recent example was seen when a growing 3.5kg foetus was removed from a one-year-old girl's abdomen. Read more about the bizarre case and what happened next, here.
Also read: Remarkable: How the foetus develops for 9 months in the womb
(All images courtesy: Pixabay, Daily Mail| News Source: Mid-Day)
