A Canadian woman was found with a highly rare pregnancy condition in which, a fetus was growing inside her liver. The 33-year-old woman went to see the doctor due to her menstrual bleeding during pregnancy, that's when the physician diagnosed her rare ectopic pregnancy. Pediatrician, Dr. Michael Narvey shared the bizarre case in a video on TikTok which was posted on Tuesday, December 14.
Explaining the Canadian woman's case, Dr. Narvey said that this rare condition of pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg gets implanted somewhere other than inside the uterus. Dr. Narvey noted this commonly happens in the fallopian tubes but the fetus getting implanted in a liver is an almost never heard condition. "This is a first for me," he said.
According to Mayo Clinic, in some ectopic pregnancies, the fetus gets implanted in the abdomen, which is in itself a very rare occurrence. The fertilized eggs are not able to survive outside the uterus making the condition dangerous for both, the baby and the mother. Ectopic pregnancy in the abdomen, however, is fairly rare than ectopic pregnancy in the fallopian tubes.
'I thought I had seen it all'
According to Verywell, ectopic pregnancies are fairly common in the US with about one in every fifty pregnancies having such conditions. "I thought I had seen it all," Dr. Narvey said while explaining the case of ectopic pregnancy in the liver. He described how the woman came to see him with a 14-day history of menstrual bleeding and 49 days since her last menstrual period. According to Mayo Clinic, symptoms of ectopic pregnancy include bleeding in the vagina and abdomen and pelvic pain, which intensifies as the fetus grows.
'This is a first for me'
Pointing to a sonogram, Dr. Narvey noted that they found a baby growing inside of the woman's liver. "She had an ectopic pregnancy in her liver. We see these sometimes in the abdomen but never in the liver. This is a first for me," he said. Dr. Narvey explained that normally, a fertilized egg travels into the uterus, where it implants. In some cases, it might get implanted in the fallopian tubes or even in the abdomen. In the Canadian woman's case, however, the egg and sperm 'wound up traveling up to the liver where they implanted there.'
Risk factors
A history of ectopic pregnancy, being older than 35, a history of infertility, and getting pregnant while using an IUD are some of the risk factors amounting to ectopic pregnancy. The Canadian woman's condition was not clear at the moment.
