In a remarkable medical case dating back to 1948, Huang Yijun, a 31-year-old woman from China, was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy, where the fetus developed outside the uterus in her abdomen.
Unable to afford surgery and feeling no pain, Huang chose to forgo the operation. Over time, the fetus calcified, forming a hardened shell known as a lithopedion, or “stone baby.”
Read more: Gravity Study Explains Why the Moon’s Two Sides Look So Different
Astonishingly, Huang lived with the calcified fetus inside her body for 61 years without serious health complications.
It wasn’t until 2009, at age 92, that she experienced discomfort and sought medical help. Doctors then discovered the lithopedion and successfully removed it.
Huang Yijun’s case is one of the longest recorded instances of a stone baby, highlighting a rare medical phenomenon rarely seen in modern medicine.
