Ranchi (PTI): In a rare case, as many as eight fetuses were found in the abdomen of a 21-day-old baby during an operation in a private hospital here, doctors said.

The size of the fetuses range from three centimetres to five centimetres and they were settled inside a cyst in the abdomen, Dr Md Imran, who performed the surgery, told PTI.

In medical terms, it is called fetus-in-fetu (FIF), a rare entity in which one malformed vertebrate fetus is enclosed within the body of its twin, according to a journal of National Library of Medicine.

"As per the papers and journals available so far, one fetus was reported in most of the FIF cases. Case of eight fetuses has not been reported from anywhere yet," Dr Imran claimed. He added that FIF is very rare and it occurs in one in five lakh live births.

The baby was born on October 10 in a government hospital in Jharkhand's Ramgarh district. The doctors found a lump in the abdomen and suggested to the parents to operate it immediately, as it might cause problems in the stomach.

"The baby was admitted to the hospital when she turned 21 days. In initial diagnosis, a cyst or tumour-like substance was found. It was located below the diaphragm. We decided to remove it through operation and it was performed on November 1. Then, we discovered eight fetuses one after another inside the part," he said.

The operation was successful and the baby's condition is normal right now. The baby has been kept under observation and she will be discharged in a week, he said.

The head of Rani hospital, Ranchi, Rajesh Singh told PTI, "Since it is a rare case, we are preparing it to be published in international journals."

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.

The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.

"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.

"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.

Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.

As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.

Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.

Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.

He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.

Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".