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ChineShe lived with her twin’s fetus in her skull
Suffering from an extremely rare congenital pathology, a one-year-old girl was successfully operated on at the end of last year in Shanghai.
The fetus is leaning against the brain of its twin.
Two Chinese men took their one-year-old daughter to the hospital, worried about the size of her head and her motor problems. During X-ray examinations, doctors found that the baby was living with her twin’s fetus in her skull. The fetus, which was pressed against the child’s brain, was successfully removed during surgery at Huashan University Hospital in Shanghai.
He had developed upper limbs, bones and even fingernails, meaning he had continued to grow for months while he was inside his twin in the mother’s womb. This is a case of fetus in fetus, an extremely rare anomaly characterized by the presence of a fetus growing inside its twin. Only 200 cases have been documented worldwide, 18 of which involve the skull, according to the «Daily Mail». That of the little girl was mentioned last December in the magazine «Neurology».
Doctors did not give details as to the child’s condition before the operation, but it appears that she had problems sitting up and moving around. The little one also suffered from hydrocephalus, an accumulation of fluid in the brain which can cause enlargement of the head, extreme drowsiness and epileptic seizures. It is not known if it will have long-term consequences.
(joc)