Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2021; 9(36): 11482-11486
Published online Dec 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i36.11482
Retroperitoneal parasitic fetus: A case report
Bin Xia, Dan-Dan Li, Hua-Xing Wei, Xuan-Xuan Zhang, Ru-Mei Li, Jian Chen
Bin Xia, Hua-Xing Wei, Xuan-Xuan Zhang, Ru-Mei Li, Jian Chen, Department of Ultrasonography, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China
Dan-Dan Li, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Xia B collected and analyzed the data, drafted the manuscript; Li DD and Wei HX helped collected the data, followed the patient, revised the manuscript; Zhang XX and Li RM helped collected the photos, interpreted the imaging findings; Chen J reviewed and revised the entire manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China, No. LY20H180013.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent for the publication of this case and any accompanying images were obtained from the patient.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016) statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016) statement.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jian Chen, MD, Chief Physician, Department of Ultrasonography, The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. N1 Shangcheng Road, Yiwu 322000, Zhejiang Province, China. chenjianzuj4h@zju.edu.cn
Received: September 2, 2021
Peer-review started: September 2, 2021
First decision: September 29, 2021
Revised: October 11, 2021
Accepted: November 18, 2021
Article in press: November 18, 2021
Published online: December 26, 2021
Processing time: 112 Days and 5.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Fetus-in-fetu (FIF) is an extremely rare congenital abnormal mass, in which a normal fetus’s vertebral axis frequently connected with malformed fetus around this axis. Here, we report the case of a male infant aged 26 d presenting with retroperitoneal parasitic fetus.

CASE SUMMARY

In a prenatal examination, we first detected an abdominal mass measuring 7.8 cm × 5.1 cm × 6.8 cm in a mother’s abdomen at 25 gestational weeks and teratoma was suspected. After the fetal was born, we did a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography on him and saw a distinctive limb with five-toes. According to the result of MRI, ultrasonography and postoperative pathology, he finally was diagnosed with FIF.

CONCLUSION

A laparotomy was performed at 26 d of age with excision of the retroperitoneal cystic tumor, which measured about 10 cm in diameter. According to the result of imaging and histological test, FIF was confirmed.

Keywords: Ultrasound; Abdominal mass; Teratoma; Fetus-in-fetu; Case report

Core Tip: Fetus-in-fetu (FIF) is a rare pediatric disease that many clinicians have not faced. In this case, we summarize the features and antidiastole of FIF with radiology, especially magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound, cross-sectional ultrasonic imaging helps in differentiating it from teratoma. Clinicians’ preliminary understanding of FIF facilitates to achieve early discovery, early diagnosis, early treatment.