Abdomen

Woman with stomach pain found to have ‘lithopedion’ a 40-year-old FOETUS inside.

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  • The 82-year-old, from Bogota, had what is known as ‘lithopedion’
  • Also called a ‘stone baby’, it’s when the fetus develops outside the womb
  • The woman will now will undergo surgery to have the fetus – mostly comprised of dead tissue – removed

A Colombian woman suffering from stomach pain was found to have a 40-year-old fetus inside her.

The 82-year-old, from Bogota, had what is known as ‘lithopedion’, or stone baby, when the unborn child develops outside the womb.

The woman was originally thought to be suffering from a stomach bug,

An 82-year-old Colombian woman suffering from stomach pain was found to have a 40-year-old foetus inside herA Colombian woman suffering from stomach pain was found to have a 40-year-old fetus inside her

But an scans revealed lithopedion, where the fetus becomes calcified.There are fewer than 300 cases reported in medical literature.

The woman will now will undergo surgery to have the fetus – mostly comprised of dead tissue – removed.

 According to NTD, Dr Kemer Ramirez of Bogota’s Tunjuelito Hospital said that the doctor overseeing the woman noticed something ‘abnormal in her abdomen‘ – and suspected gallstones.

An ultrasound showed nothing then radiography of her abdomen revealed a tumour in her abdominal cavity.

Dr Ramirez explained: ‘This happens because the fetus does not develop in the uterus because it has moved to another place.

Dr Kemer Ramirez of Bogota's Tunjuelito Hospital (pictured)Dr Kemer Ramirez of Bogota’s Tunjuelito Hospital (pictured) explained the woman was suffering from ‘lithopedion’, or stone baby, when the unborn child develops outside the womb

‘In this case, the abdominal part of the woman is not a viable (place) and this is what happened, a calcified fetus because the body is generating defence mechanisms and it is calcified until it stays there encapsulated.’

The patient is thought to have been transferred to another hospital to have the lithopedion removed.

In 2009, a 92-year-old Chinese woman was found to have a 60-year-old ‘stone baby’ inside her.

The first reported case of lithopedion was Madame Colombe Chatri, a 68-year-old French woman.

An autopsy after her death in 1582 revealed she had been carrying a fully-developed stone baby in her abdominal cavity for 28 years.

The calcified abdominal cocoon.

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A 45-year-old man with end-stage renal failure secondary to Alport syndrome, who had received maintenance peritoneal dialysis for 19 years, presented with abdominal pain and haemodynamic instability.

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His abdomen was tender and 500 mL of fresh blood was drained from the peritoneal dialysis catheter. Following resuscitation, an abdominal CT scan showed thickened bowel wall and extraordinary calcification of abdominal viscera .At laparotomy, exploration of the abdomen was precluded by severe calcification of the abdominal wall and bowel loops . Blood was arising from the pelvis, which was subsequently packed with gauze, arresting the haemorrhage. The packs were removed after 72 h and the patient was transferred to haemodialysis. He was discharged home on day 36. The radiographic and intraoperative appearances were typical of advanced, sclerosing, encapsulating peritonitis,1 or so-called abdominal cocoon, a well recognised complication of long-term peritoneal dialysis, with ectopic calcification secondary to tertiary hyperparathyroidism. Sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis is one of the most serious complications of peritoneal dialysis and is associated with a high mortality rate, even if peritoneal dialysis is discontinued. Patients usually present with symptoms of bowel obstruction. Unfortunately, there is no reliable therapy, although tamoxifen and surgery are used.

Source: Lancet