In a rare surgery, underdeveloped fetus removed from a 20-days-old infant in India

In a rare surgery, underdeveloped fetus removed from a 20-days-old infant in India

Story by Sagaya Fernando

Mumbai: March 14, 2018

In a rare case of foetus in foetu, a 20-days-old infant underwent surgery for removal of an underdeveloped foetus at Shalby Hospital in Ahmedabad – the capital of the state of Gujarat in India.

The infant’s parents took him to the hospital on February 28 with an abnormal swelling in his abdominal area. Medical examinations revealed that the child had been suffering from the rare medical condition called retroperitoneal mature teratoma or foetus in foetu.

The rare condition is defined as the presence of one of the twins in the body of the other. This condition occurs in one in five lakh cases and, only around 200 such cases have been recorded in medical history so far.

Gastrointestinal Hepatobiliary Consultant and Liver Transplant Surgeon Dr. Bhavin Vasavada conducted the surgery. He said that the CT scan was showed the rare condition after which a team of doctors decided to operate on the infant.

“During surgery, a mature teratoma (underdeveloped foetus) was removed which had an undeveloped hand and some parts of the spine,” said Dr. Vasavada.

The underdeveloped foetus weighing 750 grams was removed from the infant’s abdomen, said he.

Dr. Vasavada added that the infant was discharged on March 4, and is recovering well with no issues.