Baby in India Found with Two Fetuses Growing Inside Abdomen in Rare Medical Case

A baby in India was found with two undeveloped fetuses in his abdomen due to a rare condition. Doctors successfully removed them, and he is healthy.

A newborn boy in India was found with two underdeveloped fetuses inside his abdomen, a rare medical condition known as 'fetus in fetu.' Doctors successfully removed them, and both the baby and mother are in good health.

 

A 32-year-old woman in India was shocked when a routine scan at 35 weeks of pregnancy revealed an unusual discovery inside her unborn baby. Doctors found two malformed fetuses growing in the abdomen of her unborn son, a rare condition known as ‘fetus in fetu.’

 

The mother had undergone previous scans, which showed no abnormalities. However, last month, a doctor detected an additional structure containing bones within the fetus. Further tests confirmed the presence of two underdeveloped fetuses inside the baby’s abdomen.

 

On February 1, the woman delivered her son, and surgeons successfully removed the two fetuses. While the baby and mother are in good health, the two parasitic fetuses were too underdeveloped to survive.

 

‘Fetus in fetu’ is an extremely rare phenomenon, with only about 200 cases documented in medical literature. In this condition, one fetus is absorbed by another during early development in the womb. In some instances, the absorbed fetus may develop features such as hair, fingernails, and limbs but lacks vital organs to sustain life.

 

Dr. Prasad Agarwal, who conducted the scan, stated, "I was fortunate to detect something highly unusual. This is one of the rarest cases in the world."

 

In most cases, the absorbed fetus is found in the abdomen, allowing doctors to remove it safely. However, other documented cases have involved the fetus being discovered in locations such as the skull, scrotum, and tailbone. In 2015, a fetus was found in a 20-day-old infant’s scrotum, while a case last year in China involved a fetus inside a one-year-old girl’s skull, causing severe complications.

 

While the exact cause of ‘fetus in fetu’ remains unclear, doctors believe it occurs when identical twins fail to separate properly during early embryonic development. In this case, the woman’s fertilized egg may have attempted to split into three but did not fully separate, leading to one viable fetus and two malformed ones.

 

This rare condition continues to intrigue the medical community, shedding light on the complexities of fetal development.