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Case Reports
. 2021 Jan 30;16(4):863-866.
doi: 10.1016/j.radcr.2021.01.028. eCollection 2021 Apr.

Intra-abdominal fetus in fetu presenting at 31 weeks gestational age

To-Nguyen Ha  1 , Thi Ngoc-Tu Nguyen  1 , Chinh Huynh  1 , Huu-Chi Nguyen  2 , Quang-Thanh Le  3 , Trung-Hieu Dao  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Intra-abdominal fetus in fetu presenting at 31 weeks gestational age

To-Nguyen Ha et al. Radiol Case Rep. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Fetus in fetu (FIF) is a rare anomaly of diamniotic monochorionic twins, in which a malformed fetus resides in its twin's body. This report shows a case with the prenatal diagnosis of FIF at Tu Du hospital. A 23-year-old woman, first-time pregnant, presented at the hospital with an abdominal mass in the fetus at 31 weeks and 4 days of gestation. The ultrasound showed an abnormal mass with the images of calcified features located in the left hypochondriac region and the kidney's upper pole. These images had shapes of skull, femur, spine and became more apparent as the fetus grew. Then, the patient was monitored and delivered at our hospital. The infant was moved to the Children's Hospital 1 and diagnosed with FIF by ultrasound. The surgical resection was performed at 12 days of birth.

Keywords: Abdominal mass; Fetus in fetu; Parasitic twin; Retroperitoneal tumor; Teratoma.

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Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
At 31-week and 4-day of gestation, on the transverse and sagittal plane, the image indicated a heterogeneous mass located in the left hypochondriac region, below the diaphragm (circle), and pushing the left kidney downwards (arrowhead).
Fig 2
Fig. 2
At 34-week and 2-day of gestation, on the transverse and sagittal plane, structures with shapes of a skull (asterisk), spine, and femur (arrowhead) were shown.
Fig 3
Fig. 3
At 39 weeks of gestation, on the transverse and sagittal plane, the skull-shaped (asterisk) and spine-shaped (arrowhead) structures became more apparent.
Fig 4
Fig. 4
The color Doppler showed a vessel branch, originated from the fetus's abdominal aorta, supplied blood to the mass. On pulse-Doppler, it had umbilical arterial waveform.
Fig 5
Fig. 5
On prenatal ultrasound, a mass with skull-shape (asterisk) and spine-shape (arrowhead), located in retroperitoneum and upper the kidney, is shown.
Fig 6
Fig. 6
The gross description of operative remains at 12 days of birth. (A) An abnormal mass is about 85 × 65 mm in size and covered by an amniotic-like membrane. (B) After dissecting the membrane, there was an immature fetus with a head (asterisk) and limbs (arrowheads). (C) Between the lower limbs, the external genitalia is undefined.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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