Toddler ’gives birth’ to his own twin brother discovered living in his stomach

Toddler ’gives birth’ to his own twin brother discovered living in his stomach

Mangalore Today News Network

A baby boy has undergone an operation to ‘give birth’ to his own twin in China.

Shocked doctors realised the toddler was ‘pregnant’ during X-rays after his stomach swelled to two thirds its normal size.

Two-year-old Xiao Feng had absorbed the undeveloped foetus in his mother’s womb and his twin included a fully formed spine fingers and toes.

Doctors said the parasitic twin would have developed into a boy after growing large enough to cause severe breathing difficulties for Xiao.

He had been rushed from his home in Huaxi village and surgeons removed the foetus measuring 20cm wide.

Identical twins form when a single egg splits during fertilisation - as opposed to two eggs both being fertilised.

Conjoined twins form when a split egg fails to fully separate. A ‘parasite’ conjoined twin can survive but not when one absorbs the other.

In 2012 surgeons in Peru operated on a three year old boy to remove a nine inch-long parasitic twin weighing a pound and a half.

In 2008 doctors had to remove a two inch embryo from the body of a 9-year-old girl in Greece.

The brain, lungs and heart are some of the last parts of the body to develop. Removing a parasitic twin is usually easier than attempting to separate conjoined twins.

Courtesy: Mirror News