Baby Born With Extra Foot ... in Brain

Foot, other partly formed appendages may have been from twin that grew within
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 18, 2008 5:23 PM CST
Baby Born With Extra Foot ... in Brain
An artist's rendition of a human brain.   (Shutterstock)

Surgery to remove a brain tumor from a 3-day-old Colorado boy turned up something “borderline unheard-of,” his doctors say: a foot. When the pediatric neurosurgeon operated Oct. 3 on Sam Esquibel, he saw a small foot, other half-formed appendages, and even intestines in the baby’s head, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette. All were removed, and Sam is back home and doing fine.

"It looked like the breach delivery of a baby—coming out of the brain," says the surgeon. Doctors speculate that it may have been a rare form of teratoma, a congenital brain tumor that takes the form of body tissue. It also could have been a case of fetus in fetu, in which a fetus grows inside its twin—but that usually occurs in the torso, not the head. (More brain surgery stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X