Post date: Jan 30, 2012 10:44:41 PM
CHICLAYO, PERU (JANUARY 29, 2012) (CANAL 9) - A three-year old Peruvian boy was in the operating theatre on Monday (January 30) to remove a parasitic twin that has been trapped inside his body.
Isbac Pacunda, who belongs to the Aguaruna indigenous group from the country's Amazonic region, was taken to see a doctor after complaining of stomach pains. It was then that doctors made the discovery: a 25cm- (10-inch) fetus was stuck inside his abdomen.
Scans show bones of fetus that has been inside child's stomach for over three years.
His father, Leonidas Pacunda, said he was an active child, who had given no indication of medical problems.
"This is a tumour, the doctors said. Yes, I would say that it is a tumour. He eats normally. He runs and plays normally too," said Leonidas Pacunda.
Pacunda is now being treated in a hospital in Chiclayo, 770km (478 miles) north of Lima.
Doctor Marco Antonio Flores explained how they made the rare discovery.
"Through giving him an ultrasound scan, we realised that he had bones inside, a humerus, a femur, a backbone. Then we did an ultrasound that confirmed the diagnosis," said Flores.
Pacunda will now undergo a complicated surgical procedure to remove the so-called parasitic fetus, which has been living of his blood supply but has no brain, heart or lungs.
"Obviously it is a risky operation. You have to take a lot of care. You have to have experience in this sort of operation, because this involves the separation of a fetus that has been inside a body for more than three years and removing it from the person that has hosted it. This sort of fetus is called a parasitic fetus," said Flores.
The operation will be led by Flores, alongside 12 other doctors.
The condition, known as fetus in fetu, is said to occur in around 1 in 500,000 births.