9-Year-Old Girl's Twin Is Found Inside Her Stomach

[Kor37 9]

9-year-old girl's twin is found inside her stomach

AP

Posted: 2008-05-15 07:58:54

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said Thursday.

 

Doctors at Larissa General Hospital examined the girl and surgically removed a growth they later discovered was an embryo about six centimeters (more than two inches) long.

 

"They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn't suspect that this tumor would hide an embryo," hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said.

 

The girl has made a full recovery, he said.

 

Andreas Markou, head of the hospital's pediatric department, said the embryo was a formed fetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord.

 

Markou said cases where one of a set of twins absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one of 500,000 live births.

 

The girl's family did not want to be identified, hospital officials said.

 

[Warrior_Princess 0]

I've heard about this sort of thing happening before. Tragic thought for the whole family. Let's hope that the girl won't be too traumatized by the incident.

[GhostofMajorHayes 10]

My understanding of these types of incidents is that one twin acts almost as a 'parasite' of the other. I had no idea that this was so common as to include 1 out of every 500,000 live births.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I've heard that more pregnancies than we realize started out as twins but one was lost. Makes me wonder if maybe the increase in twin births has to do with better pre-natal care and more twins are surviving to term. (and yes, statistically, the rate of twin births is increasing) The part about being absorbed is kind of gross though. I think that is also what happens in chimera's they absorb their twin and the individuals have two different sets of dna.

[TJ Phaserman 2]

9-year-old girl's twin is found inside her stomach

AP

Posted: 2008-05-15 07:58:54

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said Thursday.

 

Doctors at Larissa General Hospital examined the girl and surgically removed a growth they later discovered was an embryo about six centimeters (more than two inches) long.

 

"They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn't suspect that this tumor would hide an embryo," hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said.

 

The girl has made a full recovery, he said.

 

Andreas Markou, head of the hospital's pediatric department, said the embryo was a formed fetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord.

 

Markou said cases where one of a set of twins absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one of 500,000 live births.

 

The girl's family did not want to be identified, hospital officials said.

 

 

it's kinda reminds me of the venture brothers a bit...