Since the internet loves to relive the moment they first read a strange story, here’s another one that will leave you scratching your head. In an old case from 2016, a group of doctors from Algeria, a country in North Africa, made a surprising discovery. They found a 35-year-old calcified “stone baby” in the uterus of a 73-year-old woman. This is what had happened.
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- What did the doctors discover?
- What is this rare disease?
- How many cases of this type are there in the world?
What did the doctors discover?
In a strange case from 2016, doctors found a 35-year-old calcified ‘stone baby’ in the uterus of a 73-year-old woman | Image: Canva
According to various reports at the time, the woman arrived complaining of abdominal pain. X-rays of the elderly woman’s stomach revealed terrifying images of a calcified fetus.
The fetus was found to be approximately seven months old and weighed 4.5 pounds. Experts believed the Algerian mother had carried the stone baby for 35 years without knowing it. In case you were wondering, the woman was reportedly living a normal life. But after the case came to light, one thing became clear: she suffered from a rare disease known as lithopedion.
What is this rare disease?
Lithopedion refers to an abdominal ectopic pregnancy in which the fetus dies but cannot be reabsorbed by the mother’s body | undo
According to the National Library of Medicine, the phrase derives from the Greek words lithos (stone) and padion (child). It refers to an abdominal ectopic pregnancy in which the fetus dies but cannot be reabsorbed by the mother’s body.
The dead fetus remains in the abdominal cavity, surrounded by a layer of calcium. According to Al Arabiya, the woman had previously received medical attention. However, her unborn child was not detected until 2016. Dr. Kim Garcsi previously spoke to ABC News about the case. At the time she was reportedly working at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
In the words of Dr. Kim: “Most of the time people find these and [sometimes] “even after they find them and don’t do anything about it because they’re totally asymptomatic.”
How many cases of this type are there in the world?
According to a 1996 report, there are currently only 290 documented examples of lithopedion worldwide. This article appeared in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.
According to a 1996 report, there are currently only 290 documented examples of lithopedion worldwide. Archive
The first known case dates back to 1582. The discovery was made during the autopsy of a 68-year-old woman in the French city of Sens. This incident was documented in a thesis by Dr. Jean d’Ailleboust. The woman had been carrying her lithopedia for 28 years.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn