Mysterious case of ‘twin fetuses’ found inside newborn in Hong Kong
Hong Kong CNN —
A team of Hong Kong doctors has described an extremely rare medical occurrence: what appeared to be a pair of fetuses inside the body of a newborn girl.
They were both joined to a placenta-like mass by umbilical cords. Each one had four limbs, skin, a ribcage, intestines and primitive brain tissue, according to a study published this month in the Hong Kong Medical Journal.
It was "one of those very rare things that make the world stand still," said Dr. Nicholas Chao, one of the surgeons who operated on the baby. He said he'd never seen anything like it before during his career in pediatric medicine.
The unusual condition, known as "fetus-in-fetu," is estimated to happen once in every half-million births but has been reported fewer than 200 times worldwide, according to the study published by Chao and his colleagues.
A team of Hong Kong doctors has described an extremely rare medical occurrence: what appeared to be a pair of fetuses inside the body of a newborn girl.
They were both joined to a placenta-like mass by umbilical cords. Each one had four limbs, skin, a ribcage, intestines and primitive brain tissue, according to a study published this month in the Hong Kong Medical Journal.
It was "one of those very rare things that make the world stand still," said Dr. Nicholas Chao, one of the surgeons who operated on the baby. He said he'd never seen anything like it before during his career in pediatric medicine.
The unusual condition, known as "fetus-in-fetu," is estimated to happen once in every half-million births but has been reported fewer than 200 times worldwide, according to the study published by Chao and his colleagues.
