Her left kidney was completely plastered to the cystic mass and her left colon, spleen, pancreas and bowels were pushed into the corner of her abdomen. Initially, Raju and Sumathi, Nisha’s parents, thought that the child simply had a large stomach, according to Daily Mail, and ignored it until she began crying and having issues eating and breathing.
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The 15-month-old was brought into hospital in Mettupalayum by her mum Sumathi and dad Raji, who had no idea how severe Nisha’s condition was.
They went for doctor’s consultation, where doctors initaially thought it an case tumour. It was feeding off her blood supply and nutrition, while also suppressing her organs.
A view of the parasitic twin after it was removed.
This doesn’t always go smoothly – sometimes resulting in conjoined or parasitic twins.
The parasitic foetus in Nisha, blocked her food supply and prevented her to digest food.
This occurs because of improper placement during the development of the foetus.
A toddler whose stomach was so bloated she could not eat or drink was found to be carrying her unborn twin.
She was finally diagnosed with “foetus in fetu”, a rare condition with only 200 cases ever reported worldwide.
“That was when I suspected that it was a fetus-in-fetu and quickly looked up some literature”, said Dr. D. Vijayagiri, who performed surgery to remove the growth of flesh, bone, and hair from Nisha’s stomach, according to the Times Of India.
Dr Vijayagiri said: “The surgery to perform is a highly complicated one and technically demanding because the parasitic twin will be densely adherent to the host organs”.
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Parasitic twins are surrounded by amniotic fluid and their own amniotic sacs.
