A common birth defect caused a newborn baby to develop a giant, red, balloon-like sac that protruded from the lower back, a striking new image shows.
The image was taken by doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. The sac was around 3 inches (7.7 centimeters) long, 2.8 inches (7.1 cm) wide and 2.1 inches (5.3 cm) deep. It was caused by a neural tube defect — which, after heart defects, is the second most common type of disability that is present from birth, affecting between 5 and 8 babies per 10,000 in the U.S.
