Ectopic Pregnancies - Stone Baby
What is a stone baby?
A stone baby or lithopedion is a very rare medical phenomenon which occurs mainly due to the death of fetus. Normally it happens when a fetus dies during the abdominal pregnancy. The dead tissue of the fetus naturally gets calcified and thus protecting the mother's body from infection. The possibility of happening lithopedion or stone baby is normally between the fourteen weeks' gestation to full term. You can find more information about stone baby in this article.
It is not uncommon that stone baby remains undiagnosed in the majority of cases it was identified only when the patient is examined for some other conditions or during a detailed examination using X-rays. The authenticated report indicating the maximum time period of carrying a lithopedion/stone baby is of a 94 year old lady to whom the lithopedion has been present for over 60 years.
This phenomenon was first explained in a thesis by the ancient physician Albucasis during 10th century AD. But the chances of lithopedion are very strange as 400 years of medical history has recorded only 300 cases. The oldest lithopedion which was found during an archaeological excavation dates back to 1100 BC.
What is the cause of forming a stone baby?
Normally when the ovum is fertilized, it travels down the fallopian tube. But in the case of lithopedion, it starts off as Ectopic Pregnancy in which the fertilized ovum travels upward, gradually broke out into the abdominal cavity, and was later adhered outside the mother’s womb. The fetus receives all the nutrition as in the case of a normal one and gradually begins to grow. Even though it receives right amount of nutrition, it is lying outside the womb and as a result the normal labor contractions fails to eject the baby.
How is it diagnosed?
Normally a lithopedion remains undiagnosed for decades as it is located outside the womb and also because it doesn’t affect the mother’s overall condition. In majority of cases it was identified during a detailed medical examination for some other illness.
There are no such specific symptoms for this condition. The woman who carries a lithopedion rarely feels heaviness in the lower portion of her stomach accompanied with shortness of breath. There are cases where the lithopedion has been wrongly diagnosed as stomach cancer, flu etc. The stone baby can be detected only through X-ray photographs.
How does it look like?
As the name itself suggests, lithopedion, the Greek terminology for stone baby is derived from the process of the calcification of died fetus. It is the body’s natural way to shield the mother from infection. Died fetus will be found in the normal knee-chest position with the head facing downward. The best example to explain a lithopedion/stone baby is the cocoon.
