An 81-year-old Brazilian woman died after undergoing surgery surgery to remove a calcified fetus that had been inside her for more than 30 yearsas confirmed this Wednesday by the hospital where he was admitted, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

The elderly woman went to the Dr. José de Simone Netto Regional Hospital, in the city of Ponta Porã, on March 14 with a serious infection and they performed a tomography scan, at which time The medical team discovered that the woman had a “calcified fetus”. This is a rare condition called ‘lithopedia’, which means “stone baby” and is caused by an egg that fertilizes outside the uterus and results in the death of the fetus and its subsequent calcification.

The woman, who lived in a municipality of Aral Moreira, had suffered a fall in the previous week and it was not until the end of last year that she went to the doctor in this town, from where she was urgently transferred to the Ponta Porã hospital.

The emergency medical team decided to perform the surgical extraction of the fetus with the aim of “controlling the serious infection that the woman was suffering from and that threatened her life,” hospital sources explained to EFE. The surgery was carried out on March 15, but the woman ended up dying the next day.

The woman had been carrying this fetus since the last time she had a pregnancy, between 30 and 40 years ago., according to the aforementioned sources. Relatives told local media that this indigenous woman was afraid of medical examinations and preferred to resort to alternative remedies.

The management and professionals of the hospital expressed their condolences for the death of the elderly woman and stated that they will carry out a more detailed investigation into the case.