A two-year-old boy has undergone an operation to give 'birth' after doctors diagnosed him as 'pregnant'.
Chinese television has broadcast pictures that show little Xiao Feng having surgery to remove the undeveloped foetus of his own twin from his stomach.
He had been rushed to hospital after his stomach had become so distended that he had begun to suffer breathing difficulties.
Once admitted, doctors took x-rays and MRI scans and discovered that Feng was carrying the undeveloped foetus.
Surgeons removed the foetus, which measured 20 cm in width and had a fully formed spine and limbs, including fingers and toes.
The parasitic twin would have developed into a boy and had grown so large that almost two-thirds of his affected twin's stomach was taken up.
Identical twins form when an egg splits in half after fertilisation. But conjoined twins or foetus-in-foetus siblings occur when the egg fails to fully separate.