'Pregnant' two-year-old boy gives 'birth' after he has parasitic twin removed from inside his stomach

By James Nye

Published: | Updated:

A two-year-old boy from Huaxi, has undergone an operation to give 'birth' after doctors diagnosed him as 'pregnant'.

Xiao Feng, was brought to hospital after his stomach had become so distended that he had begun to suffer breathing difficulties.

Once admitted, doctors took x-rays and MRI scans and discovered that Feng was carrying the undeveloped foteus of his own twin inside his stomach and they rushed him to surgery.

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Surgery: The two-year-old boy had his parasitic twin removed from his stomach in a rare case of cryptodidymus or conjoined twins

Surgery: The two-year-old boy had his parasitic twin removed from his stomach in a rare case of cryptodidymus or conjoined twins

The removed foetus measured 20 cm in width and had a fully formed spine and limbs, including fingers and toes.

The parasitic twin would have developed into a boy and had grown so large that almost 2/3rds of his affected twin's stomach was taken up.

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Emergency: The two-year-old underwent the surgery recently in Huaxi after he developed breathing difficulties

Emergency: The two-year-old underwent the surgery recently in Huaxi after he developed breathing difficulties

Pain: The feet of the boys's twin can be seen sticking out from the body of the Chinese boy

Pain: The feet of the boys's twin can be seen sticking out from the body of the Chinese boy

Scan: The doctors discovered that the young boy was carrying his own parasitic twin inside his stomach and needed urgent surgery

Scan: The doctors discovered that the young boy was carrying his own parasitic twin inside his stomach and needed urgent surgery

Identical twins form when an egg splits in half after fertilization.

But conjoined twins or foetus-in-foetu siblings occur when the egg fails to fully separate.

Dr Jonathan Fanaroff, a neonatologist at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, said some conjoined twins can survive as 'parasites', but not when one twin absorbs the other.

After Surgery: The young child is carried by his mother following the complicated surgery to remove the twin from his stomach

After Surgery: The young child is carried by his mother following the complicated surgery to remove the twin from his stomach

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