In Brazil, Infant born with 12cm rudimental tail in Albert Sabin hospital stuns doctors

A newborn baby from Brazil created headlines when the doctors revealed that the young one has a 12-centimetre extended tail. This very unique and rare case was recorded in the Albert Sabin Children's Hospital of Fortaleza city. This anomaly in the infant has been described by physicians as "a real human tail." As per the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Case Reports, the infant was born with a 12-centimetre-long tail along with a hefty ball-like structure attached at the tip. 

During the period of four to eight weeks of pregnancy, all newborns in the womb acquire a little embryonic tail, but that transforms into a tailbone, a rudimental tail, during the apoptosis phase, which is basically the death of unneeded cells. 

An infant with a tail after childbirth

As per the Sputnik website, the infant was delivered prematurely at 35 weeks, and the deformity went undiscovered during pregnancy. Doctors noticed the tail just after the baby was born and were able to successfully detach it from the infant's body, at the parents' request. Such boneless abnormalities are extremely uncommon, with just 40 occurrences described in medical practice. 

The appendage was diagnosed as a pseudo-tail by doctors since it lacked cartilage and bones. Pseudo-tails are characterised as “protuberances basically composed of adipose or cartilaginous tissue and the presence of bone elements,” according to scientists. 

As per the medical publication, the 'tail' had expanded 12cm and created a four-centimetre diameter ball-shaped mass at the apex during the time the baby was born at Albert Sabin Children's Hospital in Brazil. An ultrasound test was conducted before the delivery of the baby and it revealed no symptoms or concerns about the baby's nervous system being attached to a tail, Guwahati-based news website The Sentinel reported.  

Human tails are uncommon anomalies

Human tails are uncommon congenital abnormalities that refer to protrusions along the middle of the lumbosacral region, that are veiled in the skin and indicate an embryonic imprint. Hidden spinal dysraphism and other abnormalities like lipoma and tethered cord syndrome are frequently linked with these lumbosacral skin appendages. Real tails and pseudo-tails are the two types of classifications that come in this category. 

Further, human tails must be treated by surgical appendix removal regarding clinical and radiographic evaluations, and cautious examination has to be done to minimise later neurological consequences.  

Image: Pixabay