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An octogenarian woman has died in Brazil following an operation to remove a dead fetus she had carried for 56 years.
Daniela Vera, 81, had complained of abdominal pain in the weeks leading up to her doctor’s visit, during which medical professionals failed to discover the calcified fetus.
The indigenous woman, who resides in the town of Aral Moreira near the border with Paraguay, went to a primary care unit on March 10 and received treatment for a urinary infection, according to Brazilian media. G1.
Vera, who had seven children and 40 grandchildren, raised concerns about a mass in her abdomen. Tests did not show a calcified fetus.
The next day, she was referred for further treatment at Ponta Porä Regional Hospital, where 3D imaging diagnosed her with lithopedion, a rare side effect of ectopic pregnancy.
The fetus died during Vera’s pregnancy, so her body did not reabsorb it. Instead, it was retained in the abdominal cavity and a calcium shell formed on it.
Daniela Vera underwent surgery to remove a dead calcified fetus found in her abdomen at a hospital in Brazil on March 14 and died the next day from an infection.
Daniel Vera was initially afraid to seek treatment from doctors before giving in and visiting several, who could not detect that she had been carrying a calcified fetus in her abdomen for 56 years. She was treated for a urinary tract infection on March 10 and had X-rays the next day which revealed the dead fetus.
Vera was given medication to treat the urinary infection as her condition worsened and underwent surgery on March 14 to remove the fetus.
She was placed in intensive care and died on March 15.
Dr Patrick Dezir, who oversees the Ponta Porä health department, said Vera’s death was due to an infection.
“When pregnancy occurs, it must occur inside the uterus, but in certain situations, pregnancy can occur outside,” Dezir said. “This baby was not clinical, the patient did not have acute pain or major bleeding and this diagnosis goes unnoticed and time will take care of this foreign body which remained inside the abdomen of wife.”
According to the National Institutes of Health, most patients are asymptomatic and the disease is detected when x-rays are ordered.
Daniela Vera, 81, was the mother of seven children and 40 grandchildren
Daniela Vera experienced an ectopic pregnancy approximately 56 years ago. This caused the fetus to die and be reabsorbed into her body. It was retained in the abdominal cavity and a calcium shell formed on it.
Vera’s family said she initially avoided seeing a doctor because she was afraid and instead opted for traditional medicine.
“She was old and we are indigenous, she didn’t like going to the doctor, she was afraid of the equipment to take the exams,” said her 21-year-old daughter, Rosely Almeida.
Almeida, the youngest of seven children, revealed that Vera had complained about the discomfort since her first pregnancy with another man when she was a teenager.
“She said it felt like a baby was moving in her belly and sometimes she felt sick, but we never suspected that was it,” Almeida said. “It was from her first pregnancy, I don’t know how old she was.”