Xia B, Li DD, Wei HX, Zhang XX, Li RM, Chen J. Retroperitoneal parasitic fetus: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2021; 9(36): 11482-11486 [PMID: 35071581 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i36.11482]
Corresponding Author of This Article
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
Research Domain of This Article
Pediatrics
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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 byNatural 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
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.
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.
