In a shocking and rare case, a 33-year-old Canadian woman discovered a foetus growing inside her liver. The discovery was made during an ultrasound. The pregnancy is an "extremely rare"
ectopic pregnancy, according to the doctors.
In a video on social media, Dr Michael Narvey, who works at the Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba in Canada, explains this fairly unusual case.
"I thought I'd seen it all," he said. "A 33-year-old woman comes in with a 14-day history of menstrual bleeding and a 49-day menstrual period." On examination, the
doctor discovered an ectopic pregnancy in the woman's liver.
When a fertilised egg gets stuck anywhere other than the uterine cavity, it is called an ectopic pregnancy. In a typical ectopic pregnancy, a fertilised egg becomes stuck in the Fallopian
tube and begins to grow there, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can also be placed on the ovaries, cervix, or abdominal wall in some cases.
The woman had an ectopic pregnancy in her liver, according to Dr Michael Narvey, who also stated that they have seen it happen in the abdomen but not in the liver.
According to the National Centre for Biotechnology Information, ectopic pregnancy in the liver is "extremely rare." Only 14 cases of ectopic pregnancies in the liver were recorded
worldwide between 1964 and 1999.
Doctors were able to save the woman's life, but the foetus could not be saved because the sac had been raptured. The video, which was posted on TikTok, has attracted the attention of
netizens, garnering over 3 million views and over 17,000 comments.
On being asked how the fertilised egg got implanted in the liver,
Dr Narvey responded with another video explaining the same. He explained how a normal pregnancy occurs and how an ectopic pregnancy occurs in the Fallopian tubes.
"It's possible, though, that if the egg and sperm unite and then go the opposite way, away from the ovary, they can implant in the peritoneum," he noted. The egg and sperm,
on the other hand, "ended up travelling up to the liver where they implanted there" for the Canadian woman.