Boy, 2, “pregnant” with own “twin”

CEBU, Philippines - At two years old, a boy in Iloilo is a typical energetic toddler, except for his bulging stomach that resembles that of a pregnant woman.

Initially, doctors who examined the boy suspected that his liver was swollen or that something was wrong with him.

The father also admitted to have brought the boy to a quack doctor thinking that something medically extraordinary happened to him. The family also resorted to herbal medicines with the hope that the boy’s stomach would flatten.

This was until a CT scan revealed that the boy was carrying a fetus in his stomach, believed to be that of his unborn twin.

Doctor Florentino Alerta said the boy’s condition is called fetus in fetu (or foetus in foetu), which is a developmental abnormality in which a mass of tissue resembling a fetus forms inside the body.

Although rare, these cases are not unheard of and is estimated to occur in one of 500,000 live births, Alerta said adding that, in 2007, a two-month-old baby in Baguio City was also diagnosed with the same condition.

These cases have highlighted the biological precision needed for twins to develop in the womb.

There are two theories of origin concerning fetus in fetu, which may be a very highly differentiated form of dermoid cyst or in itself a highly differentiated form of mature teratoma.

A teratoma is a tumor with tissue or organ components resembling normal derivatives of more than one germ layer.

On the parasitic twin theory, fetus in fetu may be a parasitic twin fetus growing within his or her host twin. “In this theory, during the early stage of monozygotic twin pregnancy, both fetuses share a common placenta, one fetus wraps around and envelops the other,” Alerta said.

Online reports said the enveloped twin becomes a parasite, in that his or her survival depends on the survival of his or her host twin, by drawing on the host twin’s blood supply.

The parasitic twin is anencephalic (without a brain) and lacks some internal organs, and as such is almost always unable to survive on its own. As the normal twin has to “feed” the enveloped twin from the nutrients received over a single umbilical cord, he or she usually dies before birth.

Meanwhile, the father has asked for help to support for the boy’s medicines and other needs. His attending physicians have assured to shoulder other expenses while the boy is confined in a government hospital in Iloilo City. (FREEMAN)