Dead fetus in the body for 36 years

60-year-old Indian woman had a fetus in her stomach for 36 years

08/27/2014

In India, doctors of a 60-year-old woman have removed the skeleton of a fetus that she had in her stomach for 36 years. The Indian woman had originally come to the hospital because of severe abdominal pain. In the investigation, the doctors then discovered the fossilized skeleton.

Skeleton of a fetus
Indian doctors removed the skeleton of a fetus from a 60-year-old woman whom she had worn in her body for 36 years. According to press reports, Murtaza Akhtar said the woman had been hospitalized for severe abdominal pain. There, the doctors then discovered the fossilized skeleton during the investigation. The doctor from the University Hospital in central Nagpur spoke of a worldwide record. According to him, the patient, who lives in a poor rural area, reported that she was 24 years pregnant, but that the fetus developed outside her uterus.

Patient recovers from the procedure and the shock
At that time, when the doctors recommended surgery to remove the fetus, she refused and used painkillers instead. The pain in the abdomen had returned only after decades. She then turned to the clinic. At first, the physicians feared a cancer, but in further investigations, the putative tumor turned out to be the fossilized skeleton of a mature fetus. „For us it was a medical miracle, we had never heard of it“, so akhtar. According to the doctors, the operation was successful. The patient, who does not want to speak to the media herself, is recovering from the procedure and shock, according to her doctor.

Fossilized fetus in the womb very rare
Doctors speak of a lithopädion in a dead, fossilized fetus in the womb. In humans, the formation of such is extremely rare. So far, fewer than 300 cases have been documented. According to the press articles, the longest case of pregnancy outside the uterus, as the literature suggests, is that of a Belgian woman who carried the remains of a fetus in her body for 18 years. However, considerably longer cases have been reported in recent years.

Two older cases in Colombia
For example, in Colombia in 2013, when examining an 82-year-old female patient, a dead fetus had been discovered that appeared to be undetected in the woman's abdomen for more than 40 years. At the time, the patient had come to a hospital because of severe headaches and severe diarrhea, according to media reports. Another case - also in Colombia - was reported in 2000. Doctors had diagnosed lithopädia in a 72-year-old woman who had severe abdominal pain. In both cases, surgical removal of the fetus had been performed. (Ad)