Indian Doctors Remove Skeleton of Baby Left Inside Mother For 36 Years

Kantabai Thakre an Indian woman is believed to have had the world’s longest ectopic pregnancy as she became pregnant in 1978 at the age of 24 and whose baby’s remains were removed from her body 36 years later. When the expectant mother heard that a foetus was growing outside of her womb and the operation needed she fled and sought treatment at a small clinic.

Months later when the pain subsided, Ms Thakre was convinced the problem had been treated. But when she turned 60 years, the woman started to experience constant pain in her abdomen. After being examined by doctors in a local hospita a mass made of hard, calcified matter was discovered.

After being examined by doctors in a local hospital a mass made of hard, calcified matter was discovered.

 Dr Murtaza Akhtar, head of surgery at the hospital, said: “She was complaining of consistent pain in her abdomen and she had urinary problems with high fever.Then we found a lump on her right side but we feared it was cancer.

 

After she went for an MRI and CT scan we could make out that it was actually a matured skeleton encapsulated in a calcified sac. The amniotic fluid that protects the foetus might have been absorbed and the soft tissues liquefied over time with only a bag of bones with some fluid remaining.”

The team searched for medical literature on similar cases and found a Belgian woman who had retained the remains of an ectopic pregnancy for 18 years, the longest period they could find on record. The doctors believe this could be the longest case on record at 38 years.