An 81-year-old woman discovered she was carrying a calcified fetus in his body for decades after being admitted to the Dr. José de Simone Netto Regional Hospital, in Ponta Porã (MS).
The elderly woman died after surgery to try to remove the calcified fetus, which caused the woman to suffer from sepsis.
According to the hospital note sent to CNN, “the aforementioned patient was admitted to the unit on March 14 with a serious infection. Ten days before admission, the patient suffered a fall and, according to her own report, remained in pain and feeling unwell – choosing to seek hospital services only the following week.”
She was transferred to the hospital in a very serious condition.
“After carrying out tests, during a computed tomography scan, the presence of a calcified fetus was diagnosed – a rare condition called lithopedium, a consequence of an ectopic pregnancy (a pregnancy in which the fertilized egg is implanted outside the uterus) which progresses to fetal death and calcification,” he explained. the note from the Ponta Porã Regional Hospital.
“Based on the confirmed infection, the medical team at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) decided to perform emergency surgery, with the aim of removing the fetus and controlling the infectious process”, continues the institution’s note.
According to the hospital, the surgery to remove the fetus was adopted as a measure to try to prevent the woman’s death, due to sepsis — a condition triggered by inflammation that spreads throughout the body due to an infection.
However, the woman died even after the surgery was performed.
“The management and professionals at Hospital Regional Dr. José de Simone Netto regret the death of the patient and sympathize with family and friends. It is important to point out that the unit maintained reception and dialogue with family members, who can still count on psychological support from the hospital”, added the note.
“Stone Baby”
A similar case went viral on social media last year, in which an 84-year-old woman living in Natividade, in the interior of Tocantins, discovered that she had a seven-month-old fetus calcified in her body for more than 40 years.
Experts even said that the case is called “stone baby”.
At the time, Mariana Betioli, a midwife specializing in intimate health and CEO of Inciclo, explained to CNN that what happened is possible and is called “lithopedium” in medicine, when the fetus ends up developing outside the uterus. It is unable to develop in the abdomen, so it ends up dying as the months go by. After that, if not removed from the body, the tissues dry out and end up calcifying.
“This is a very rare condition. It happens when it is an ectopic pregnancy, in which the fetus dies and is not reabsorbed by the mother’s body and becomes calcified. It is as if a calcium shell was formed around the fetus, 60% of cases occur in women over 40”, explained the specialist.
This can happen due to negligence in removing the fetus from the body, as soon as it is known that it is dead. The factors may be interconnected with the lack of knowledge and access to health among a poorer population.
Mariana explained that the woman may not even feel the calcification, making it even more difficult to identify the dead fetus there: “Normally the woman does not present symptoms, which is why this condition ends up being diagnosed by chance only years after pregnancy”.
*With information from Nicoly Bastos, from CNN
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