Dead foetus in boy a rare occurrence, says expert

PETALING JAYA: The removal of a dead foetus, which had its own hair and penis from the stomach of a 15-year-old boy is rare but it happens, said Prof Dr Imelda Balchin, consultant expert of Foetomaternal at University of Malaya.

She said the case of “feotus in feotu”, is a developmental abnormality in which a mass of tissue resembling a feotus forms inside the body.

“It happens everywhere in the world, although rare, about 1 in 500,000 pregnancies.”

She added it is probably not the first time it had happened in Malaysia, and probably other cases might have gone unreported.

Surgeons at Sultan Abdul Halim Hospital in Sungai Petani had removed the dead foetus from the stomach of the boy.

Foetus in foetu may be a parasitic twin foetus growing within its host twin. Very early in a twin pregnancy, in which both foetuses share a common placenta, one foetus wraps around and envelops the other.

The enveloped twin becomes a parasite, in that its survival depends on the survival of the host twin, by drawing on the host twin’s blood supply.

The other theory is that the mass is a highly developed teratoma.

The foetus, which weighed 1.6kg and had deformed limbs, had been leaching into his blood supply and feeding off him, The Daily Mail of UK reported yesterday, citing the BMJ Case Reports.

BMJ Case Reports is an educational resource offering a high volume of cases in all disciplines for healthcare professionals, researchers and others to find clinically important information on common and rare conditions. – by Vathani Panirchellvum