Foot Found in Baby's Brain and Other Cases of Fetus in Fetu

A Colorado doctor found a tiny foot growing in the brain of 3 day old baby, Sam Esquibel, when a brain tumor was being removed at the Memorial Hospital for Children in Colorado Springs. The foot was found inside the brain tumor, along with a thigh and another partially formed foot and hand. The infant is reportedly doing well and recovering from his surgery.

It is unclear if the body parts were a part of a teratoma, a benign stem cell tumor or the remains of a twin that did not split from the baby in the fetus, known as fetus in fetu. The tissue was so well formed that the latter is the most likely explanation. Doctors agree that this is an extremely rare phenomenon to occur in the brain.

Fetus in Fetu is a developmental abnormality in which a fetus is enveloped by its twin and the entire living organism can form, including torso and limbs, inside the host twin. It is estimated that fetus in fetu occurs once in every 500,000 births.

Other cases of fetus in fetu have been recorded around the world, though none as rare as in the case of baby Sam. In 2003, a 7 year old Kazakhstan boy was sent to the hospital after his school physician noticed movement in his stomach. Doctors initially thought he had a tumor but surgery uncovered the fetus of his twin brother which had lived inside him throughout his life. The fetus had hair, a head, genitals, toes, legs, nails and a face.

In 1999, a man from Nagpur, India, was rushed to the hospital due to loss of breath. His stomach was grossly distended and doctors believed he had a very large tumor. During surgery, a half formed creature with hair, limbs, fingernails and genitalia was found inside his stomach. This case of fetus in fetu is one of the most extraordinary ever documented. The man carried his twin brother inside him for 36 years and it had begun to leach off of the man's blood supply.

Several other cases of fetus in fetu have been recorded in countries such as Chile, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia and China. The twin living inside the host has no potential for life outside of the host and in all cases the fetus has no functional brain, lungs or heart.

Sources:

Foot Grows in Baby's Brain

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/SecondOpinion/Story?id=6488655&page=2

The Boy Who Gave Birth to His Twin

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/medicine/bodyshock.html

Man with Twin Living Inside Him

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2346476&page=1