Photo: Doctors remove unborn baby who grew on twin sister's back

 

They were supposed to be born as twins, but instead, one twin grew inside her sister’s body with one arm coming out from the back.

This gruesome case left the medical world stunned. An 11 year old, was admitted to a hospital in China, with a third arm growing from her back.

Tests revealed that the mass that was growing on the girl’s back was part of an identical twin that had failed to develop and had been growing inside her sister's body.

After more tests were done doctors discovered more parts of a second person in the girl’s body. She was found to contain parts of a chest and an arm including a shoulder blade and two fingers.

The case came to the attention of the medical world after it was revealed by Professor Baogan Peng of the General Hospital of Armed Police Force in Beijing. Writing in the journal BMJ Case Reports, Prof. Peng said: “Based on physical examination and imaging findings, a diagnosis of fetus in fetus was made preoperatively.”

The “fetus fetus," is a very rare condition that affects only one in five million live births. It is a
condition in which the fetus is malformed in the body of its twin. In 80 percent of cases the fetus is found in the abdomen, although there have been reports of it occurring in the skull. However, this is the first time that it has been reported in the back.

The young patient also suffered from diastematomyelia, which is a hereditary disorder in which the spinal cord is divided.

Professor Peng, who is an expert in spinal surgery, removed the parasitic twin, despite having no clear way to separate them.