Fetus-in-fetu in the cranium of a 4-month-old boy: histopathology and short tandem repeat polymorphism-based genotyping. Case report.
Fetus-in-fetu is a very rare condition in which one fetus is contained within another. About 100 cases have been reported, and in most of these the fetus was located in the retroperitoneum. The authors describe an extremely rare case of an intracranial fetus-in-fetu in an extraaxial location. This is the eighth intracranial fetus-in-fetu to be reported, the first intracranial extraaxial case, and involves the oldest documented patient with this condition. Histopathological analysis of the mass revealed a degenerated amnionic membranelike tissue, well-differentiated extremities (including fingerlike structures), skin, matured lungs, well-formed intestines, cerebellar and cerebral tissue, and a notochord with ganglion cells. DNA analysis using short tandem repeat polymorphisms confirmed that the fetus-in-fetu mass and the host infant had heterozygous alleles and were of identical sex and genotype.
Kim
Jin Wook
JW
Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Seoul National University Children's Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Park
Sung-Hye
SH
Park
Sung-Sup
SS
Wang
Kyu-Chang
KC
Cho
Byung-Kyu
BK
Kim
So Yeon
SY
Ra
Eun Kyung
EK
Kim
Chae-Yong
CY
Kim
Seung-Ki
SK
D001921:Brain / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery; D005333:Fetus / Q000002:abnormalities*; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D014430:Twins, Monozygotic