In Thursday's STAT episode, a calcified fetus was discovered in a patient's fallopian tube. What exactly is a calcified fetus? We'll explain it to you.
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What is a calcified fetus?
A calcified fetus, or more accurately a lithopedion, is the fossilized and calcified form of a fetus that died during pregnancy, usually ectopic (the fertilized egg implants itself in an abnormal location).
The origin of the word lithopedion comes from the Greek: litho, meaning “stone,” and paidion, meaning “child.”
It is extremely rare
According to the journal BMC Women's Health, fewer than 300 cases of calcified fetuses have been reported since the first known case in France in 1582.
Such a complication would affect only 1.5 to 1.8% of ectopic pregnancies and 0.00045% of all pregnancies.
The documented calcified fetuses spent between 4 and 60 years inside the carriers.
PHOTO Journal of Forensic Sciences
How do you recognize a calcified fetus?
Calcified fetuses are often discovered accidentally. This rare complication can actually remain asymptomatic for several years.
In most of the reported and investigated cases, people who were unknowingly carrying a lithopedion discovered it when they were consulted about other health problems – related to the calcified fetus – such as: B. Genitourinary or gastrointestinal problems. Intestine (as in STAT).
The mummified fetus is removed from the carrying person's body through surgery.
In several cases, the calcified fetus was only discovered after the carriers died. Some of them died from complications related to lithopedion.
PHOTO Journal of Forensic Sciences
Three species of Lithopedion
There are three types of lithopedions, as various scientific journals teach us.
- Lithopedion: when the fetus gradually calcifies without its membranes (placenta, amniotic sac, umbilical cord).
- Lithokelihopedion: when the fetus and its membranes undergo a calcification process together
- Lithokeliphos: when the membranes form a calcified shell and the fetus itself is almost not calcified
− With information from France Info, the National Library of Medicine and the BBC