Currently, a lithopedion occurs when fetal cells that have been stillborn in the mother’s body over the years become calcified, known as a stony fetus. This phenomenon happened almost exclusively in the old days when ultrasound equipment was not yet popular.
There is one thing in common of all cases pregnant petrified is that most mothers do not know they are pregnant or the fetus is stillborn when it is so young in the mother’s womb that the mother does not know the existence of the baby. Other cases have occurred in people who had unsuccessful abortions and the mother did not know the process was faulty.
A petrified pregnancy in the womb is an extremely rare phenomenon. (Illustration)
According to records, there are about 300 petrified pregnancies in the world so far. Here are some famous petrification cases that have been recorded in the world and in Vietnam.
The old woman was pregnant for 46 years
The story of the “fetus” in the mother’s womb for 46 years by Zahra Aboutalib, living in Morocco, has shocked many people. In 1955, Zahra Aboutalib, then 26 years old, became pregnant with her first child. Her 9 months of pregnancy went quite smoothly and healthy.
Ms. Zahra Aboutalib is one of the most famous cases of “stone pregnancy”.
When she went into labor, Mrs. Zahra was taken to the hospital but for 48 hours she could not give birth, so the doctor ordered a caesarean section. Because she was too scared to witness another woman who had just died from a cesarean section, Ms. Zahra ran away from the hospital.
Years after Zahra Aboutalib took over as a grandmother and at the age of 75, the stomach ache suddenly reappeared. Her adopted son then took her to see Professor Taibi Ouazani. He suspected an ovarian tumor because of her bulging belly.
When she was pregnant until the due date, Ms. Zahra fled the hospital for fear of caesarean section.
However, when the ultrasound was performed, the doctors were “dumbfounded” because it was actually Mrs. Zahra’s fetus that had existed in the mother’s womb for 46 years. It ruptured the fallopian tubes, grew in the abdomen, and survived by attaching to internal organs. When the doctors performed surgery, they discovered that the fetus had calcified, which was a very solid and dense mass. It was basically a “rock baby”, which was attached to the abdominal wall and vital organs of Mrs. Zahra.
After 4 hours of difficult surgery, doctors successfully removed the fetus. “Baby” weighs 3.2kg and is 42cm long.
The fetal mass was removed after 46 years in the womb.
The 91-year-old woman was “pregnant” for 60 years
The longest recorded stone pregnancy in the world is Estela Meléndez, 91 years old, living in the town of La Boca, on the banks of the Rapel River in Chile.
Estela and her husband, Manuel González, were married but were barren. They always tell people that one of the couple’s regrets is not being able to have children. After 74 years together, Manuel passed away at the age of 91.
Estela has been pregnant with stones for 60 years.
After her husband’s death, Meléndez began to suffer from hearing loss and severe arthritis. In a fall and had to go to the hospital for examination, Mrs. Meléndez and the doctor in the hospital were shocked to discover a shocking truth.
“The doctor said I had a tumor and they needed to operate on me,” Meléndez told CNN. But when he took a second X-ray to confirm, the doctors couldn’t believe their eyes. The tumor they were looking at turned out to be a fetus!
Doctors said the fetus had been in Meléndez’s womb for more than six decades. But because the fetus was calcified, it did not pose a danger to the woman’s health, but the fetus never had a chance to be born.
“Can you imagine? Over 60 years!” The woman’s grandson, Luis Meléndez, said. “I wonder how she never feels bad once the fetus dies inside her.”
Doctors did not surgically remove the stone for Estela because of the high risk.
Doctors at the local clinic considered surgery to remove the fetus but later determined that, in this case, surgery on a 91-year-old patient was riskier than leaving it alone. Meléndez says she sometimes has a stomach ache, but usually the pain goes away very quickly.
On a deeper level, Meléndez said, the tumor (the calcified fetus) reminded her of her husband and their unfulfilled dream of having children during their teenage years.
The case of petrification in Khanh Hoa, Vietnam
In Vietnam, a case of petrified fetus was discovered in 2014 by Mrs. Nguyen Thi Sau (living in Khanh Hoa). At the age of 76, Mrs. Sau often suffered from pain in the lumbar spine and lower abdomen, so her children and grandchildren took her to the doctor.
Through examination and X-ray, the doctors discovered that the pelvic area had a fetal skeleton (including the skull, spine, ribs and femur) and was diagnosed: the pregnancy ended in the abdomen. It is known that the old woman had menopause at the age of 49, she had 4 children. Sau was pregnant for the last time 40 years ago, but at that time she was bleeding a lot, so she thought she had lost her baby.
Mrs. Sau thought she had miscarried 40 years ago, but she did not expect that the fetus was still in her body and turned to stone.
After discovering that Mrs. Sau was pregnant with “stones”, a series of consultations were held to find a solution. In the end, the doctors agreed to let Mr. S. continue to “live peacefully” with the “stone fetus”, because if dissection would face many unpredictable surgical risks, due to the advanced age of the patient. , has high blood pressure and is likely to stick other organs around… If later, there are complicated and dangerous complications, a solution will be calculated.
Mrs. Sau also accepted to “live” with the stone fetus because the surgery was too dangerous.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: Eva.vn – Read the original article here
