A Colombian woman has given birth to a baby whose abdomen contained the tiny, halfformed — but still growing — body of her own twin sister. This type of birth, an example of ‘fetus-in-fetu’, is very rare but not unprecedented.The condition was described in a British medical journal in 1808 and is thought to occur in about one in every 500,000 births. In recent years, similar births have occurred in India, Indonesia and Singapore. The latest case was even more unusual, because doctors clearly identified the fetus-in-fetu during the pregnancy, said Dr Miguel Parra-Saavedra, a high-risk pregnancy specialist who oversaw the birth.
He first saw the mother, Monica Vega, when she was in her 35th week of pregnancy, five weeks short of a full-term birth. Her obstetrician believed her fetus had a liver cyst. But, using colour doppler and 3D/4D ultrasound imaging, Parra-Saavedra was able to see that the fluid-filled space actually contained a minuscule infant, supported by a separate umbilical cord drawing blood where it connected to larger twin’s intestine.
He alerted a local TV, which followed Vega, who is now 33, through the birth of her daughter, Itzamara, and the surgery to remove Itzamara’s partially formed twin. On Feb 22, doctors decided to deliver her by cesarean section, because they feared the internal twin would crush her abdominal organs. The next day, they removed the fetal twin by laparoscopic surgery. It was about two inches long, Parra-Saavedra said.