Agartala: Surgeons at Tripura Medical College (TMC) have successfully operated on a seven-month-old infant suffering from an extremely rare congenital condition known as Fetus in fetu, hospital officials said on Monday.
The surgery, performed on January 13 by the paediatric surgery department, was successful. The child is now stable and expected to be discharged within two to three days, officials added.
Fetus in fetu is a rare anomaly in which a malformed and non-viable parasitic twin is found enclosed within the body of a normally developing twin. Medical literature records around 200 such cases worldwide, with an estimated incidence of one in five lakh live births.
Paediatric surgeon Aniruddha Basak, who led the operation, said the condition could not be detected during pre-operative investigations and was identified only after pathological examination of the removed mass.
The infant had been referred to TMC from Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital after suffering recurrent urinary tract infections. Ultrasound and CT scan examinations revealed a large tumour-like mass near the right kidney, following which surgery was advised, Basak said.
He added that the parents were informed about the risks involved and consented to the procedure, which was considered unavoidable. The mass was carefully dissected and removed from the abdomen, with special attention to protecting surrounding vital organs due to the patient’s young age.
Subsequent pathological analysis confirmed the mass to be a malformed twin, with partially developed structures including a head, spinal cord, and umbilical cord. Basak noted that the mother had initially conceived twins, but one failed to develop normally.
Medical Superintendent of TMC, Jayanta Poddar, described the operation as one of the rarest cases handled by the institution.
OSD of Tripura Medical College Society, Nandan Sarkar, said the hospital has successfully carried out several complex and uncommon surgeries in recent years. “Our aim is to ensure that patients in Tripura are aware of the advanced treatment facilities available within the state,” he added.
The child, Bishanka Das, was born to Biprajit Das and Bineeta Debbarma. The parents thanked the medical team, including doctors Ankan and Dipannita.
Related
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘609578899588292’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
