Viral TikTok shows ultrasound of baby growing in woman's liver in rare ectopic pregnancy

Some people may have heard of an ectopic pregnancy, where a fetus grows outside the womb. But, a fetus growing inside a liver is shocking – even to medical professionals.

 A TikTok from Dr. Michael Narvey, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba in Canada, went viral last week showing a baby growing inside a woman's liver. The TikTok has amassed 7 million views and nearly 775,000 likes. 

"I thought I had seen it all," Narvey said. 

The video stems from a case reported in the US National Library of Medicine of a 33-year-old woman suffering from abdomen pain and 14-day vaginal bleeding in 2006. It had been 49 days since her last mensural cycle and an ultrasound of her uterus found nothing abnormal. 

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However, further imaging found something abnormal between her liver and stomach – a fetus. 

“She had an ectopic pregnancy in her liver,” Narvey said in the TikTok as the ultrasound plays in the background. “We see these sometimes in the abdomen, but never in the liver. This is a first for me.”

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the main cavity of the uterus, according to the Mayo Clinic. It usually happens in the fallopian tubes and rarely happens in the abdomen. 

According to the case report, ectopic pregnancy in the liver is "exceptionally rare" and before November 1999, only 14 had been reported in the world. 

The woman went on to have surgery where she was found to have internal bleeding. The fetus was unable to be saved and removed. The rest of the operation was "uneventful," according to the report.

"This is a first for me," Narvey told his viewers. "Have you ever seen this? I haven't."

Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.