Baby Born With Dead Fetus Inside Stomach Undergoes Surgery In Extremely Rare Case

In an extremely rare medical case, a newborn baby was born in Israel with a dead fetus inside her stomach. A surgery was conducted to remove the fetus from the newborn's stomach.

This condition, known as "fetus in fetu," reportedly affects one in five million children across the world. Doctors at the Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod discovered the condition after the birth of the baby this week, the Jerusalem Post reported.

"When the woman came to give birth, we got the impression that the baby had a big tummy," Dr. Omer Globus told the media. "Because of that, the moment the baby was born, we checked her and realized that we can feel something inside her stomach, so we did ultrasound tests among others.

"We were surprised to discover that in her stomach was a partially developed fetus. We immediately took her to the operating room and took it out. The impression we got is that there were originally two babies, and we're checking it. The baby went through recovery for a few days and was released after her condition improved."

Dr. Globus added that such incidents occur in cases of twins. The pregnant mother had two fetuses in her womb, and one of them moved into the body of the other fetus, local media Andina reported [Google Translate showed]. Such cases have occurred in adults who got tested later in life and discovered they had a fetus in their stomach.

"The other theory is that this is a benign tumor that involves tissue from various parts of the body," Dr. Globus said. "It's rare. Most doctors in my field have heard of these cases, but few have seen them."

The baby, who has not been identified, is said to be healthy and has been discharged from the hospital.

A similar case was reported in India in March where an 18-month-old baby underwent a surgery to remove a parasitic fetus from his stomach. The procedure took place at a hospital in the western state of Maharashtra.

At the time of birth, the baby's parents did not know about the parasitic fetus. But, the baby had been facing health problems right after being born. Earlier this year, the toddler's parents noticed his stomach grew abnormally big, and he complained of recurring pain. Later, doctors found he had developed the rare congenital anomaly called fetus in fetu.