9-year-old girl's twin is found inside her stomach

[Breeze54]

9-year-old girl's twin is found inside her stomach

May 15, 2008 7:58 AM

http://www.examiner.com/a-1392487~9_year_old_girl_s_twin_is_found_inside_her_stomach.html

ATHENS, Greece (Map, News) -

A 9-year-old girl who went to hospital in central Greece suffering from stomach pains
was found to be carrying her embryonic twin, doctors said Thursday.

Doctors at Larissa General Hospital examined the girl and surgically removed a growth
they later discovered was an embryo about six centimeters (more than two inches) long.

"They could see on the right side that her belly was swollen, but they couldn't suspect
that this tumor would hide an embryo," hospital director Iakovos Brouskelis said.

The girl has made a full recovery, he said.

Andreas Markou, head of the hospital's pediatric department, said the embryo was a formed
fetus with a head, hair and eyes, but no brain or umbilical cord.

Markou said cases where one of a set of twins absorbs the other in the womb occurs in one
of 500,000 live births.

The girl's family did not want to be identified, hospital officials said.

Ugh! The poor kid! I hope they didn't tell her about it!

[izquierdista]

1. Pope excommunicates girl

For allowing an abortion to be performed on her.

[TheWraith]

3. Was that really necessary?

[izquierdista]

4. Just anticipating the nutcases

eom

[Liberal_in_LA]

12. I'm surprised they didn't make her carry embryo to term.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. This was on "House"

A few seasons ago, two, maybe, a show dealt with the health problems a little boy was having. Turned out he had a twin, just like this little girl.

There are some strange things that happen.

[Warpy]

5. They're called teratomas

and they're very well known and not all that uncommon. Usually it's just a few recognizable parts in an otherwise ordinary looking benign tumor, but it's a twin that failed to develop and was partially absorbed by the surviving fetus. They're discovered only when they press on organs and cause pain or functional problems.

They're especially problematic for the "life begins at conception" and "it's a separate person with separate DNA and has separate rights" crowds.

[kestrel91316]

10. I find these "evil twins" every bit as creepy as molar pregnancies....

[Warpy]

11. Creepier, I think

since they started out to be separate human beings and failed to become corpses when that was no longer possible.

Ick.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

6. Reminds me of Dwight Schrute:

He had a twin that he absorbed in the womb. He bragged that he had the combined strength of a grown man and a fetus.

[jus_the_facts]

7. Reminds me of Stephen King's "The Dark Half"

http://www.stephenking.com/pages/works/Dark_Half/

[noonwitch]

9. It reminds me of "South Park"

The school nurse with the cojoined twin on her face.

[Shine]

8. Wow, poor kid. If they did tell her, she's gonna need a lot of therapy.

whew. how bizarre! :wow: