Earlier this month a baby boy was born in Israel with twin fetuses in his stomach. The rare episode was recorded by the Asuta Medical Center in Ashdod.
“We were surprised to learn that this baby’s abdominal swelling, which had been identified on ultrasound before delivery, was caused by the malformed fetus of her twin sister,” says Omar Globus, a specialist in neonatology for the Times of Israel newspaper.
He also points out that the medical case is rare and occurs in one out of every 500 thousand registered. After delivery, doctors performed X-rays and ultrasound examinations on the baby’s abdomen.
So they found that the embryo was not fully formed, but that it had developed some bones and a small heart. “But it didn’t look like a fetus as you imagine”, the expert explains. “This anomaly occurs during embryonic development at the stage of cavities closing and one embryo being surrounded by another,” explains Globus. “The internal embryo is partially developed, but not to the point of being fit for life.”
The doctors were able to successfully remove the deformity from the girl’s abdomen and the baby recovered at home with its mother.
