The human body is a fascinating and complex entity. However, it is also vulnerable, being exposed to numerous threats, both from the outside and from the inside. Under what conditions do “stone children” appear?
An extremely rare protection strategy of the human body can appear in unusual and, unfortunately, unfortunate conditions. Occasionally, a fertilized egg begins to develop outside the uterus in the mother’s abdominal cavity. This situation, known as abdominal pregnancy, is very dangerous and can be fatal.
What are “stone children”? In a very small percentage of such pregnancies, the mother’s body manages to protect itself when the fetus dies by turning it into “stone”.
Of course, it’s not the stone itself, but rather the metal. The mother’s organism impregnates the fetus with the metallic mineral calcium, the main component of bones, in a process called calcification. Thus, the fetus is safely isolated from the mother’s body, preventing the risk of sepsis.
How rare are “stone children”?
The official term for a calcified fetus is lithopedion, derived from the ancient Greek and meaning “stone child”. This phenomenon is extremely rare, at least in terms of discovered cases, being documented only a few hundred times throughout human history. What makes it truly remarkable is that, most of the time, the calcified fetus can remain undetected in the mother’s body for years or even decades. Discovery may only occur after menopause or, in some cases, post-mortem, writes Science Alert.
The mother may even give birth to other children without being aware of the presence of calcified fetal remains.
Lithopedion is estimated to occur in 1.5-1.8% of abdominal pregnancies, but documented cases are far fewer.
Abdominal pregnancy is a form of ectopic pregnancy, in which the fertilized embryo implants outside the uterus. The most common form of ectopic pregnancy occurs in the fallopian tube, but the ovaries or cervix can also be implantation sites.
About 2% of all pregnancies are ectopic, of which an estimated 0.6-4% are abdominal. Although they are dangerous and the fetus does not usually survive, in rare cases an abdominal pregnancy can result in a live, usually premature, baby.
And study from 2023 estimates that globally 208 million pregnancies occur annually. According to these data, and taking into account the lower estimates of the rate of abdominal pregnancies and lithopedions, approximately 374 pregnancies should result in “stone babies” annually.
However, one 2019 study shows that fewer than 300 cases of lithopedion have been documented in 400 years of history.
There may be undiagnosed cases. Some lithopedions have been discovered in ancient tombs, the oldest dating back to 1100 BC.
A phenomenon that is becoming increasingly rare
According to a 1949 review of 128 cases, the average age at which a mother is discovered wearing a lithopedion is 55.
In 1996, a report detailed the discovery of a lithopedion in an 85-year-old patient who had given birth to four children before an “incomplete abortion” at the age of 41, continuing to live for decades without knowing that fetal remains remained in her abdomen .
A 2000 report described the phenomenon in an 80-year-old female patient. In 2014, another report documented a lithopedion in a 77-year-old patient who believed she had never been pregnant. In 2016, a similar case was discovered post-mortem in an 87-year-old woman.
Thanks to increasingly high standards in gynecological and obstetrical care, experts believe that the phenomenon is becoming rarer. Abdominal pregnancies are identified earlier and treated before the fetus reaches the point of calcification.
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Source: www.descopera.ro
