Hyderabad: A 100-gm foetus was removed from the abdomen of a seven-month-old baby in the city. The baby was crying in pain, and her parents — agriculture officers Nizamabad — rushed her to Hyderabad. Dr M. Rangaiah, senior paediatrician, said, “The scan showed a mass with hair and limbs which indicated the presence of a foetus in the body. There must have been two foetuses in the womb of the mother during pregnancy. The stronger one developed while the weaker one got engulfed in the foetus of the developing child. It is during the process of formation in the womb that this transition occurs.”
The 100-gm foetus had only the shape of the head, some hair, hands, limbs and nails. There was no heart, lung, liver or kidney.
Prof. Narender Kumar, senior paediatric surgeon, performed the surgery and removed the mass. The mass is parasitic and it can cause infections. It has blood supply and nutrients from the body are absorbed.
Prof. Kumar had performed a similar case in 1999. The rare condition is called foetus in fetu and is a rare congenital abnormality. There have been 100 cases recorded in medical journals around the globe, a doctor said.
