
30/07/2025
(Greek for “stone baby”)
- it’s an extremely rare phenomenon in which a fetus dies during an abdominal (ectopic) pregnancy and is too large to be reabsorbed by the body. Instead, to protect the mother from infection, the body encases the dead fetus in layers of calcium, effectively mummifying it. This can remain undiagnosed for decades, often discovered incidentally during imaging for unrelated issues. In the case of a 74-year-old woman, the calcified fetus likely resulted from a pregnancy decades earlier that went unnoticed or was misdiagnosed, especially in eras or regions with limited access to prenatal care. Only a few hundred cases have ever been reported, and many women remain asymptomatic. The condition is more commonly found in postmenopausal women from developing countries, highlighting disparities in medical access and early pregnancy diagnostics.