The skeleton of an unborn child was successfully removed from a woman’s abdomen by doctors at King George Hospital (KGH), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This is a rare case of ectopic pregnancy. According to medical experts, there are less than 400 such cases in the world and less than 25 in India. The 27-year-old woman from Anakapalli district already has two children. She had not undergone family planning and became pregnant for the third time three years ago. Her husband gave her MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) kits but the foetus was not aborted and remained in the abdomen. The foetus grew for six months and then died. The woman kept experiencing pain in her abdomen and visited many doctors in Anakapalli. They gave her medicines which gave her temporary relief. A radiologist suspected something unusual in her abdomen and suggested an MRI.
The MRI found bone-like structures in the abdomen. A doctor in Anakapalli referred the woman to Dr I Vani, gynaecologist and professor, 3rd department, KGH/Andhra Medical College (AMC).
“I noticed a bone mass on her viscera and alerted the surgical team. The flesh seemed to have come out of the woman’s body while calcified, mummified bones of the baby remained,” Dr Vani told the media on Tuesday. “This is known as ‘lithopedion’, a rare pregnancy complication that occurs when a foetus dies and calcifies,” she said.
Dr Vani and Dr M Anand, professor, 3rd department of surgery, along with their team successfully performed the surgery on August 31 and removed the bone mass from the woman’s body. Dr Sivananda, superintendent of KGH, visited the woman. He praised the medical team, Dr Suryaprakash, the anesthesiologist, the nursing staff and other staff for successfully performing the rare surgery.
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