81-Year-Old Brazilian Woman Dies After Surgery to Remove 56-Year-Old Deceased Fetus

An 81-year-old woman named Daniela Vera from Aral Moreira, Brazil, passed away after surgery to remove a 56-year-old lithopedion, a calcified fetus, from her abdomen. Doctors discovered that Daniela had been unknowingly carrying the fetus since her youth, despite complaining of stomach pain over the years.

According to NDTV, Daniela initially sought treatment for a urinary tract infection on March 10 at a local health center. She was later referred to another hospital for 3D scans, revealing the lithopedion. Subsequently, she was transferred to Ponta Pora Regional Hospital in Mato Grosso do Sul due to a generalized infection contracted during her prior hospital visit.

Lithopedion, a condition where an abdominal ectopic pregnancy becomes calcified around the fetus, went unnoticed despite Daniela being a mother of seven children. After surgery to remove the calcified fetus, Daniela was moved to intensive care, where she succumbed to complications from an infection on March 15.

Dr. Patrick Dezir, head of the Ponta Pora Hospital health department, explained the rarity of the condition and how it often goes unnoticed without acute symptoms. Daniela’s daughter, Rosely Almedia, revealed that Daniela had complained of abdominal pain since her teenage pregnancy but never suspected it was due to the lithopedion.

Similar cases have been reported in the past, including that of an 82-year-old woman in Colombia who carried a stone baby in her belly for 40 years, highlighting the extraordinary nature of such occurrences.