How rare is a fetus in fetu?

Introduction Fetus-in-fetu (FIF) is a rare congenital anomaly with an incidence of 1:500,000 births that is characterized by the incorporation of one or more partially-developed fetuses into the body of an otherwise normally developed fetus.

What is the fetus in fetu?

Background. Fetus in fetu is a rare congenital anomaly and is defined as a monozygotic twin incorporated into the abdomen of its sibling during development. Fetus in fetu is often overlooked in the differential diagnosis of an abdominal mass. Unlike teratomas, fetus in fetu is a benign disorder.

How many cases have been reported of fetus in fetu?

Fetus in fetu (FIF) is an extremely rare condition in which malformed fetus is found most commonly in the retroperitoneum of living twin. It occurs in about 1 in 500 000 live births and less than 200 cases have been reported in medical literature.

Do human babies eat their siblings in the womb?

Vanishing twin syndrome was first recognized in 1945. This occurs when a twin or multiple disappears in the uterus during pregnancy as a result of a miscarriage of one twin or multiple. The fetal tissue is absorbed by the other twin, multiple, placenta or the mother.

Is a fetus in fetu alive?

A fetus in fetu can be considered alive, but only in the sense that its component tissues have not yet died or been eliminated. Thus, the life of a fetus in fetu is akin to that of a tumor in that its cells remain viable by way of normal metabolic activity.

Is fetus in fetu a teratoma?

Fetus in fetu is a rare congenital entity in which a deformed parasitic twin develops within the body of a living newborn or a child. Meanwhile, fetiform teratoma is a rare congenital disorder with high degree of organoid differentiation resembling fetus in fetu.

Can fetus in fetu survive?

Can a pregnant woman get pregnant again?

In extremely rare cases, a woman can get pregnant while already pregnant. Normally, a pregnant woman’s ovaries temporarily stop releasing eggs. But in a rare phenomenon called superfetation, another egg is released, gets fertilized with sperm, and attaches to the wall of the uterus, resulting in two babies.

Why does fetu happen?

Fetus in fetu is thought to result from the unequal division of the totipotent inner cell mass, the mass of cells that is the ancestral precursor to all cells in the body. The unequal division is thought to occur during the formation of the blastocyst, which can also result in parasitic and conjoined twins.

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