A highly unusual medical case has come to light in Rahim Yar Khan, where surgeons at Sheikh Zayed Hospital successfully removed an underdeveloped foetus from the chest of a five-year-old boy.

Hospital officials said the delicate operation was carried out by a specialised surgical team led by thoracic surgeon Dr Sultan Mahmood Owaisi. The foetus, described as a case of fetus in fetu, a rare condition in which a malformed twin develops inside the body of its sibling, was found near the child’s main heart artery.

The foetus was premature and could not survive.

A spokesperson for Sheikh Zayed Hospital told Geo News that the surgery was completed successfully and that the boy’s condition after the operation was satisfactory. 

“The patient is being provided with the best possible medical care,” he said.

Speaking to the BBC Urdu, Dr Sultan explained that such cases are usually discovered in the abdomen, making this case particularly rare because the foetus was located in the child’s chest. 

“Several of the foetus’s organs had formed, but it went undetected for five years,” he said.

According to the surgeon, the child had suffered from breathing difficulties, chest infections, coughing and frequent fevers since he was just 18 days old. Despite visiting multiple doctors over the years, the condition was only correctly diagnosed after a CT scan was carried out recently.

“The foetus had a spine, hair, teeth and other body parts. Everything was present except the head,” Dr Sultan said, adding that it weighed about one kilogramme.