A 42-year-old woman in Somaliland sought hospital care after experiencing three years of chronic lower abdominal pain and a worsening sense of heaviness. Three years earlier, she had experienced what seemed like pregnancy symptoms, including abdominal growth and sensations of fetal movement, but she did not receive medical attention.
Physical examination revealed a hard, irregular mass in her lower abdomen. Blood work showed mild anemia, but pregnancy tests were negative. An ultrasound detected a calcified mass in an empty uterus. A CT scan revealed the mass contained fetal skeletal structures, including a skull, spinal column, ribs, and arm and leg bones, measuring roughly 7 by 5 inches.
Doctors diagnosed a lithopedion, or "stone baby." The condition typically begins as an abdominal pregnancy, a type of ectopic pregnancy in which an embryo implants outside the uterus on the abdominal cavity lining. These pregnancies are almost never viable and carry severe risk of internal bleeding for the mother. When the fetus dies and becomes too large for the body to reabsorb, the immune system can deposit calcium around the fetal remains as a protective casing.
Surgeons removed the calcified mass. The woman developed a mild fever and nausea the following day, but both resolved with treatment. She was discharged in good condition and remained stable during six-month follow-up visits, with complete resolution of her abdominal pain.
Only about 340 cases of lithopedion have been documented in medical literature over the past 400 years, with the earliest recorded in 1582. This case is notable because the woman was diagnosed after only three years, whereas many recent cases occur in postmenopausal women who carried the remains for decades before developing symptoms. The case also demonstrates successful outcomes using advanced imaging and surgery in resource-limited settings.