Egypt doctors remove rare fetus from 18-month-old's stomach

Medical specialists at the National Liver Institute, part of Menoufia University in Egypt, have successfully performed a rare surgery to remove a deformed fetus from the stomach of an 18-month-old girl.

The child was admitted to the institute suffering from severe gastrointestinal bleeding. Following diagnostic examinations and endoscopies, doctors discovered an unusual mass within the stomach. Further evaluation revealed the mass contained a fetal formation, a condition medically known as ‘fetus in fetu’.

This condition is extremely rare, occurring in fewer than one in 500,000 births globally. It involves the incomplete development of one twin inside the body of its sibling during early pregnancy. While most cases are found in the abdominal cavity, finding the formation within the stomach is considered an even rarer medical exception.

A multidisciplinary team involving surgeons, pediatricians, anesthesiologists, and intensive care specialists coordinated the treatment. The exploratory surgery to extract the mass and the deformed fetus was successful, and the child’s health has since stabilized.