Three Fetuses Removed from Three-Month-Old Boy

By Htet Naing Zaw 23 December 2016

NAYPYIDAW—A three-month-old infant underwent surgery in Naypyidaw on Monday to remove three fetuses from his body.

Surgeons at Naypyidaw’s 1000-bed hospital claimed the boy was born with three of his fellow “quadruplets” inside him in a rare medical incidence called “fetus in fetu.”

Professor and chief surgeon at the hospital Dr. Naw Mar Thay said the operation was successful and lasted just over an hour.

The infant was admitted to the hospital on Dec. 12 after being transferred from Mandalay’s Children Hospital at which X-Ray scans showed fetuses inside his body.

After the fetuses were removed, one was found relatively developed and appeared to be a female embryo, according to the chief surgeon.

The other two were undeveloped but had limbs, hair, and intestines. She also explained that such an incident only occurs in one in every half-million births.

“The surgery was expected to be very worrisome since the operation had to be very detailed and delicate on the three-month-old infant,” Dr. Naw Mar Thay said.

The boy is recovering well but is being kept in intensive care.

The boy’s father U Myint Aye said that his son was first examined at Pyinmana’s 200-bed hospital in Naypyidaw as his belly was abnormally swollen. The hospital could not determine the origin of the boy’s pain.

“We thought that he was full from breast milk,” he said. “We didn’t know that there were fetuses inside his body.”

There are two theories of why fetus in fetu occur: undeveloped fetus(es) of twins may be gestated but later become enveloped inside one of the fetuses, or a tumor develops inside one fetus.

A newborn girl was found “pregnant” with two of her fellow triplets in November 2010, according to a 2015 issue of the Hong Kong Medical Journal.