An ‘unborn twin’ was discovered in the brain of a one-year-old child, in China’s Shanghai, after the girl was brought to the hospital after displaying motor function issues and an enlarged head. “An intraventricular fetus-in-fetu, a malformed monochorionic diamniotic twin, was identified in a 1-year-old girl with motor delay and enlarged head circumference,” the medical conclusion was. The „parasitic twin” was surgically removed. The mass had a vertebral column, femur, and tibia.The report does not include details of the 1-year-old’s condition following surgery.
Such cases start to appear during the first trimester of pregnancy, according to a report in IFL Science, if a group of cells that form as a result of the fertilisation of a female egg and a male sperm fail to split properly. Usually, parasitic twins are found in the retroperitoneal region, which is the area behind the abdomen. But they can be detected in other areas too. This is not the first time such an incident has taken place in the world. A an example, in November last year, eight embryos were removed from the stomach of a 21-day-old infant in Jharkhand’s Ranchi.
