A pregnant woman’s life has been saved following an extremely rare medical incident in which her unborn baby’s leg poked through the wall of her womb, a Shenzhen hospital reported.
A pregnant woman’s life has been saved following an extremely rare medical incident in which her unborn baby’s leg poked through the wall of her womb, a Shenzhen hospital reported.
The Peking University Shenzhen Hospital shared the above picture on its official social media account yesterday. It claimed that an ultrasound scan showed Ms Zhang’s baby had her foot outside of Ms Zhang’s womb (circled) after kicking through the wall of the uterus Photo:Peking University Shenzhen Hospital
Victim Ms. Zhang’s womb (circled) after kicking through the wall of the uterus.
Ms. Zhang’s unborn daughter is said to have kicked so hard she tore a small hole on the inside wall of Ms. Zhang’s uterus, which had been left damaged by a previous operation.
The baby girl was born via a caesarean section at 35 weeks and both she and her mother are in stable condition, according to the hospital.
Ms Zhang was taken to the Peking University Shenzhen Hospital (pictured) at around 10am on October 2 after having suffered severe abdominal pain for about five hours, said the hospital Photo:Peking University Shenzhen Hospital
Ms. Zhang and her family mistook the expectant mother’s pain for a stomachache.
By using an ultrasound, doctors were surprised to discover one of the baby’s legs protruding from the woman’s womb and poking into her abdomen.
The picture, also posted by the Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, claimed to show doctors holding Ms Zhang’s ruptured uterus. The hospital has declined to reveal more details on the operation and the patient due to ‘privacy issues Photo:Peking University Shenzhen Hospital
Ms. Zhang reported that she had undergone an operation to have a fibroid removed in 2016 and discovered she was pregnant six months after the operation. Fibroids are tumors that grow in a woman’s uterus.
Based on Ms. Zhang’s account, doctors suspected that she had a uterine rupture on the site of the previous incision made during the surgery.
Doctors considered Ms. Zhang’s condition critical and immediately arranged an operation for her.
The hospital said the baby was delivered ten minutes after the C-section began.
Zhong Shilin, Ms. Zhang’s doctor, reported he found a 7cm (2.8 inches) long rupture on her uterus.
It’s ‘extremely rare’ for a pregnant woman to suffer a rupture on her womb. Usually it happens on the site of a previous incision. Only 26 cases are said to have been reported worldwide Photo:Dailymail
Dr. Zhong said that Ms. Zhang’s amniotic sac had also broken and that the amniotic fluid had leaked into her abdomen.
Dr. Zhong added that that Ms. Zhang’s scar was located at the bottom of her uterus and that her baby had kicked it by accident, causing the rupture.
Dr. Zhong recommended that women who have had fibroid removal operations should wait one to two years before trying to get pregnant. He also suggested these women have a complete pelvic check before making a decision to get pregnant.
