The symptoms: The woman went to the hospital after having three years of chronic, dull pain in her lower abdomen, as well as a growing sense of heaviness in her abdomen that had worsened in recent months.
What happened next: When doctors physically examined the woman's abdomen, they found a hard, irregular mass that extended to her belly button and barely moved when they touched it. Blood tests showed mild anemia, meaning she had fewer healthy red blood cells than normal. Her white blood cell count and kidney and liver tests were normal, and a pregnancy test was negative.
To get a better look at the mass, which occupied the woman's lower abdomen and pelvis, the doctors ordered an advanced CT scan to create a 3D model. The imaging revealed that the mass contained clearly identifiable fetal skeletal structures, including a skull, a spinal column, ribs, and arm and leg bones. The mass measured roughly 7 by 5 inches (18 by 13 centimeters).
In a typical pregnancy, an egg is fertilized in a fallopian tube — the structure between the ovaries and the womb — and then travels into the uterus, where it implants in the uterine lining. By contrast, lithopedions most often start as abdominal pregnancies, a type of ectopic pregnancy in which the embryo instead implants on the lining of the abdominal cavity.
If the fetus dies at a developmental stage when it is too large for the mother's body to naturally break down and absorb, her immune system can sometimes treat the retained tissue as a foreign object. To protect the mother from inflammatory complications and infection, the body progressively deposits calcium over the fetal remains, creating a protective casing. In this case, the calcified fetus likely accounted for the woman's chronic abdominal pain and increasing sense of heaviness, her doctors concluded.
The day after surgery, she developed a mild fever and nausea, but both resolved with treatment. She remained stable and improved during her hospital stay before being discharged in good condition.
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This woman's case stands out because she was 42 years old, while many recent cases have been diagnosed in postmenopausal women. (Women typically experience menopause around 51 to 52 years old.) In these cases, the initial ectopic pregnancy occurred during the woman's childbearing years, but she unknowingly carried the calcified remains for decades before developing symptoms. For example, a 74-year old woman from India carried her "stone baby" for more than three decades. By contrast, the woman's recent case was caught after only three years.
For more intriguing medical cases, check out our Diagnostic Dilemma archives.
Can you guess the diagnosis in these strange medical cases? Find out with our diagnostic dilemma quiz!
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