Doctors at the King George Hospital in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam successfully removed the calcified remains of a 24-week-old fetus from a patient’s abdominal cavity.
The condition known as a ‘stone baby’ or “lithopedion”, is a rare phenomenon which occurs most commonly when a fetus dies during an abdominal pregnancy, is too large to be reabsorbed by the body, and subsequently becomes calcified.
Lithopedia may occur from 14 weeks gestation to full term. It is not unusual for a stone baby to remain undiagnosed for decades and to be found well after natural menopause; diagnosis often happens when the patient is examined for other conditions that require being subjected to an X-ray study.
The 27-year-old patient from the Anakapalle district, a mother of two, arrived at KGH in the third week of August, suffering from severe abdominal pain. The baby’s rib cage, skull, pelvic bone, scapula, etc. were removed.
Dr Vani, Professor of Obstetrics at KGH conducted an MRI scan, which showed the presence of a calcified mass resembling a “nest of bones” in her abdomen.
The medical team performed surgery on August 31. The operation was successful, and the woman is recovering well.
In 2015, a 91-year-old woman in Chile, Estela Melendez, did not know that a calcified fetus had been in her uterus for over 60 years until the doctors spotted something on her X-ray when she suffered a fall.
The woman had a lump for over 60 years but was unaware of the situation. The calcified fetus did not pose any risk to her.