40-year-old fetus found in woman, 82

Doctors in Columbia have discovered a 40-year-old fetus inside a 82-year-old woman after she complained of stomach pain.

Her rare condition, known as "lithopedion" or "stone baby", occurs when the fetus develops outside the womb and calcifies.

To date, less than 300 cases of lithopedion have been reported. The most recent case was in 2009 when a 92-year-old Chinese woman was found to be carrying a 60-year-old stone baby. Incredibly, a woman with lithopedion can live a normal life as the body doesn't register the stone baby as a foreign mass.

Dr. Kemer Ramirez who treated the patient told NTD TV that gallstones were originally thought to be the health issue.

“Then, an abdominal radiography was ordered which located a tumor in the abdominal cavity which concluded that it was a fetus in the woman’s abdomen,” he said.

The Colombian woman, who lives in the capital city Bogotá, will now undergo surgery to have the fetus, which now is mostly dead tissue, removed.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.