哥倫比亞某醫院的醫生們在本周遇到了一件奇怪的事情——一位82歲的老太太已經懷孕了40年。她在周一時因劇烈的腹瀉而到該醫院就診。

據報道，在全面的臨床檢查之后，醫生確定在她的腹部并沒有結石或腫瘤，而在子宮外發現了一個胎兒，但已經死亡了近40年。

這位老太太最初以為自己得了腸胃炎，但在感覺到腹痛并做了超聲波之后，才發現在腹部有一個未發育的胎兒。

醫生解釋稱：“由于胚胎未在子宮里發育，移動到老婦的腹腔，導致胚胎無法正常生長，因而鈣化形成石胎。”

 

Doctors in Colombia discovered the 82-year-old woman was carrying the unborn baby after she went to hospital in Bogota suffering from abdominal pain.

It was only when medics x-rayed her they discovered the calcified foetus or lithopaedian inside her body.

Dr Kemer Ramirez of Bogota’s Tunjuelito Hospital explained the doctor looking after the woman noticed something “abnormal in her abdomen” and suspected it could be gallstones.

An initial ultrasound revealed nothing before a radiographer discovered a tumour in her abdominal cavity.

Dr Ramirez said: “This happens because the foetus does not develop in the uterus because it has moved to another place.

“In this case, the abdominal part of the woman is not a viable (place) and this is what happened, a calcified foetus because the body is generating defence mechanisms and it is calcified until it stays there encapsulated.”

Lithopaedian, also known as stone baby, is a rare syndrome that can occur when the foetus implants outside the uterus.

If the baby becomes too large to be absorbed back into the body, it undergoes a process of mummification, with barriers of calcium protecting the mother from the decaying foetus.

The stone baby can then remain undiagnosed for decades. There are fewer than 300 cases reported in medical literature.

The woman will now will undergo surgery to have the foetus - mostly comprised of dead tissue - removed.

（來源：Mirror Online 編輯：丹妮）