Lithopedion: case report and ultrastructural study of the skeletal muscle

A case of lithopedion (lythokelyphopedion) is reported in a 69 year old woman who had carried a nearly full term dead fetus for at least 20 years. The fine structure of the skeletal muscle was in an astonishingly good state of preservation with contractile elements and myosin molecules identifiable. The conditions and modifying factors that may play a role in the development of a lithopedion are discussed, and x-ray, histologic, and electron microscopic studies are described.