Foetus found inside newborn’s stomach in Bihar; know about the rare condition

In a rare case, a foetus was found to be developing within the stomach of a 40-day-old newborn in Bihar’s Motihari. A medical oddity, the condition has been diagnosed as ‘Foetus in Fetu’ — a  rare rare congenital anomaly — which was diagnosed after the infant had an inflammation near his tummy due to which he was unable to urinate correctly. The newborn then underwent surgery and was reportedly in a stable condition.

Here’s what to know about the condition.
“It is a rare congenital condition with an incidence of 1 in 5,00,000 births. It is a monozygotic twin where the parasitic twin develops inside the body of a host twin. Most of the cases are diagnosed before 18 months of age,” said Dr Priya Deshpande, consultant, Maternal Foetal Medicine, Motherhood Hospital, Kharghar.
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It is found most commonly in the retroperitoneum, the tissues in the abdominal wall. Atypical locations like skull, sacrum have also been reported in literature. Majority of cases appear in infancy, said Dr Deshpande. Fetus in fetu, most commonly, presents as a single parasitic foetus, however, multiple fetuses have also been reported, explained Dr Deshpande.
Surgical treatment for fetus-in-fetu is curative (Photo: Getty/Thinkstock)
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is often made preoperatively with ultrasonography, plain radiography, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Treatment
Surgical treatment for fetus-in-fetu is curative since it is currently considered a benign disease.
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