Bearing Your Own Twin
'Fetus in Fetu' Results in the Absorption of One's Embryonic Twin, Doctors Say
In 1999, a man from Nagpur, India, was treated for a mass in his belly that had been painful for years and had advanced to the point that he appeared to be nine months pregnant.
Sanju Bhagat, then 36, was rushed to the hospital one evening and doctors removed a fetus -- his twin -- from his abdomen.
"Because of the sheer size of the tumor, it makes it difficult [to operate]. We anticipated a lot of problems," Bhagat's surgeon Ajay Mehta of Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai told ABC News at the time.
"To my surprise and horror, I could shake hands with somebody inside," he said. "It was a bit shocking for me."
Fetus in fetu in is one of several conditions that can result in an embryo or embryolike mass developing in one's body, doctors told ABC News.
With scant details available in the Greek case, physicians consulted by ABC News offered alternative theories to the fetus in fetu diagnosis.
"There are several ways for a fetus to appear in the body," said Richard Paulson, an obstetrics professor and chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Southern California. "One is an ectopic pregnancy, in which a fetus develops in the fallopian tubes outside the uterus. There are all kinds of ectopic pregnancies, and while I would not want to imply that this girl was sexually active, it is a possibility."
"Another option is a teratoma, which comes from the Greek for monster and tumor," he added. "These tumors grow in the ovaries and are cysts that have hair or bone, and can sometimes contain brain or eye tissue. They don't actually form fetuses."
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