Doctors at Shanghai Gongli Hospital removed a 3 1/2-month fetus growing on a woman's liver on Wednesday morning. It is the first time the operation has been performed locally and 15th worldwide.

The hospital received permission from the family to make the fetus a specimen for future research studies.

Currently, the woman, a 30-year-old Anhui Province native surnamed Cao, is in stable condition after the emergency surgery. She was expected to leave hospital in one week, hospital officials said yesterday.

Cao was sent to the hospital in Pudong at 6:40am on Wednesday after experiencing terrible pain. She was in deep coma when arriving at the hospital.

An ultrasonic check later found the fetus on the liver.

"The surgery is not difficult but quite risky," said Xu Yanmin, a hospital official. "The patient could have died any time if the liver had broken."

Doctors spent one hour to remove the male fetus.

"Extrauterine pregnancy is not common. More than 90 percent takes place in uterine tube," Xu said. "There is about one possibility in every 100,000 pregnancies that the zygote flows into the abdominal cavity. It is even rarer that the fetus grows on the liver."

Experts said women in their most fertile period must arouse awareness when stopping periods. They must go to hospital for medical checks and treatment.

Extrauterine pregnancy must undergo treatment immediately, or it can be fatal to the woman.

(eastday.com  August 6, 2004)