TITLE:
Lithopedion: Circumstances, Commonality, Symptoms, Diagnoses, Case Exploration & Ethical Considerations of Disposition in Antemortem Extraction and Post-Mortem Removal
AUTHORS:
Dina Cirigliano, Maureen O’Connor
KEYWORDS:
Lithopedion, Lithokelyphos, Lithotecnon, Lithokelyphopedion, Antemortem Incidental Findings, Post-Mortem Discoveries, Medicolegal Ethics, Abdominal Pregnancy, Surgical Extraction, Surgical Removal, Stone Baby
JOURNAL NAME:
Forensic Medicine and Anatomy Research,
Vol.14 No.2,
April
8,
2026
ABSTRACT: Lithopedion is an extremely infrequent marvel of medical science in which a female becomes abdominally pregnant, the fetus dies, and the expired fetus becomes calcified [1]. The term lithopedion was derived from the Greek words lithos, which translates to stone, and paidion, which translates to child. Henceforth, lithopedion is more commonly referred to, outside the scientific community, as stone baby.