Lithopedion—a rare complication of abdominal pregnancy: a clinical case report

TL;DR

A rare case of a calcified fetus in a woman's abdomen, known as a lithopedion, was discovered after decades of being undetected.

Contribution

This paper presents a new clinical case of lithopedion in a postmenopausal woman, highlighting its long-term asymptomatic nature.

Findings

Computed tomography revealed multiple calcified fetal bones in the abdomen of a 70-year-old woman.

The case adds to the limited medical literature on lithopedion, a rare complication of abdominal pregnancy.

Abstract

Lithopedion (from the Greek words ‘lithos’ meaning stone and ‘paidion’ meaning child) refers to a rare medical complication in which a fetus dies during an abdominal pregnancy and, unable to be absorbed by the body, calcifies and is gradually turned into stone. This process of calcification serves as the body’s way of protecting itself from the dead tissue, preserving the fetus inside the mother’s abdomen for many years, often without any symptoms. Lithopedion cases are extremely rare, with about 330 to 340 documented cases reported throughout 400 years of medical literature. We report a rare clinical case of retained abdominal pregnancy for decades in a 70-year-old postmenopausal female, who presented with chronic back pain. Multiple fetal bones calcified in the abdomen were observed on computed tomography.

Figures