THE GOAN NETWORK
BELAGAVI
In what could be termed as a medical mystery, a baby girl born in Chandgad near Belagavi was found to have her twin fetus living inside her tiny abdomen.
The case is believed to be a rare instance of ‘fetus-in-fetu’ seen 1 in 5-6 lakh babies.
Doctors at the KLES Dr Prabhakar Kore Hospital performed a complex surgery saving the baby. Neonatologist of Goan origin Dr Manisha Bhandankar was the part of the medical team at the KLES Hospital.
According to hospital sources, a woman had gone for an ultrasound in her 28th week of pregnancy. During the ultrasound, Dr Sanjay Shanbag, originally hailing from Goa and now settled at Gadhinglaj, noticed the baby appeared to have a cyst, but a closer inspection revealed it was actually a ‘fetus’ inside the abdomen.
The baby was delivered after 37 weeks and was immediately referred to KLES Dr Prabhakar Kore hospital for further surgical management.
The 3-day-old baby was operated by Paediatric Surgeon, Dr Swapnil Pattanshetti, who was assisted by Dr Saksham. The twin amniotic cyst was located between major vessels IVC, Right Renal vessels and Aorta. The complex removal was done with fine dissection without rupturing the cyst and fetal parts.
Anaesthesiologist Dr Rajesh Mane and Dr Priyanka Gadvi administered general anaesthesia and also extubated the baby. Perioperatively, the baby was in NICU under care of Dr Manisha Bhandankar and Dr Ram Bhatt. The Baby is now recovering well after surgery.
“It is not certain why a fetus-in-fetu can arise; however, it’s believed to occur during the first few weeks of Diamniotic Monozygotic twin pregnancies after one fetus wraps around and envelops the other anomalous twin. The enveloped twin then becomes “parasitic” and relies on the blood supply of the “host” twin and keeps increasing in size,” Dr Bhandankar said.
KLES Chairman Dr Prabhakar Kore said he was proud of his medical team, while KLES Medical Director Dr (Col) Dayanand and directors have also expressed satisfaction over the rare surgery and have appealed to people to rely on the KLES Hospital in case of any complex medical cases.
