Doctors Shocked After Finding Baby Growing in Woman’s Liver: “I Thought I Had Seen It All”

A Canadian woman got the scare of her life after discovering that a fetus was growing in her liver. This was a case of an ectopic pregnancy, where a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the main cavity of the uterus. In most cases, an ectopic pregnancy occurs in the fallopian tube, but in this case, it was the liver. The case went viral after a pediatrician Dr. Michael Narvey shared it on TikTok. “I thought I had seen it all,” says Dr. Narvey in the clip, stunned by the screenshots of a fetus in the liver. The 33-year-old woman had reported to the clinic after experiencing menstrual bleeding for 14 days straight, said Dr. Narvey, a doctor at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba, reported New York Post.

Dr. Narvey was told that her last menstrual period was 49 days prior. It was a sonogram that revealed the problem. “What they find in the liver is this: a baby,” explains Narvey in the video, sharing screenshots from the sonogram. Fertilized eggs are not built to survive outside the uterus. As it grows, it can often damage nearby organs and cause life-threatening loss of blood. Some of the common symptoms include pelvic pain and vaginal bleeding. The chances of a child growing in the liver and surviving are negligible if that needs to be said. The chances of the mother surviving are even lower in such cases. 

Dr. Narvey said that in a normal ectopic pregnancy, the fertilized egg ends up "getting stuck” in the fallopian tube, but pointed out that there were cases where the egg could depart the ova pass and embed itself in the abdominal wall. He was shocked that the embryo had “wound up traveling up to the liver where they implanted.” He couldn't believe it either. “We see these sometimes in the abdomen but never in the liver,” said Narvey. “This is a first for me.” Many pointed out that it was yet another explanation for why abortion needed to be legalized. 

In a separate post, Dr. Narvey touched upon a case from 2013 where the baby and the mother did survive after the fetus grew in the liver. According to BBC, a kid named Nhlahla, meaning "luck" in Zulu, survived one such pregnancy. The doctors noted that she weighed a healthy 2.8kg and was put on oxygen immediately after birth. Doctors also confirmed Nhlahla's mother Ncise Cwayita, 20, was doing well. "She is the real thing. She is truly a miracle baby," said liver specialist Professor Jack Krige, who helped deliver the baby.

Doctors were initially stunned after a scan found her womb to be empty, despite the baby being due in a week. It was then that they found the baby to be growing outside the womb. "We knew it was an extrauterine pregnancy but we didn't know it was in the liver until we started the operation," said Dr. Bruce Howard. Doctors said they found a small "window" where the amniotic sac connected with the outside of the liver where they were able to go in to deliver the baby. Being on unchartered territory, they had to improvise. They left the placenta and amniotic sac in the liver, as the mother's life was also at risk. They banked on the placenta and amniotic sac to be absorbed back into her body. Professor James Walker, president of the British Ectopic Pregnancy Trust, said such cases posed huge risks for the mother. "One in 200 women die before we can do anything to help them. The main problem for the baby is that it is not protected by the muscular wall of the womb." Thankfully, Cwayita and Nhlahla survived.

References: 
https://www.tiktok.com/@nicu_musings/video/7041301839299628293
https://nypost.com/2021/12/17/doctors-shocked-to-find-baby-growing-in-womans-liver/
https://www.tiktok.com/@nicu_musings/video/7043494182765350149
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2932608.stm

Cover image source: TikTok/@nicu_musings