Woman's brain tumor may have been her unborn twin

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A doctoral student who moved from India to Indiana to study computer science and was complaining of headaches and fatigue, shocked the medical community and herself when doctors discovered a brain tumor that contained bones, hair and teeth.

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Friends held a fund-raiser to fly her out to Los Angeles for the procedure, which occurred April 15. Through an incision in the back of her head, doctors used an endoscope to enter the area of her brain where the tumor was, The Washington Post reported. There, instead of finding a tumor, surgeons found a teratoma -- a mass of bone, hair and teeth.

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Teratomas are embryonal tumors -- the most common brain tumors in infants less than 36 months old -- that are typically benign, but are defined as being composed either of tissues that are foreign to the area, or tissues that derive from all three of the germ layers. Germ layers contribute to the formation of all organs and tissues during embryonic development, according to The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. These masses can sometimes contain hair, teeth, bone neurons or even eyes.

"This is my second one, and I've probably taken out 7,000 or 8,000 brain tumors,” Shahinian told NBC 4.

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