Unnamed octogenarian may have survived a failed infanticide attempt by her parents.

Doctors found an 80-year-old woman in Russia has lived her entire life with an inch-long needle in her brain.

A local radiologist discovered a three-centimetre needle inside the octogenarian’s brain during an X-ray scan, said the Ministry of Health in Sakhalin in a Telegram post on Wednesday.

The tiny needle was located in the parietal lobe of the unnamed woman’s brain, according to the ministry. While it did not disclose the exact date of discovery, it said the needle was found this year.

The needle was lodged inside her brain since she was born. Doctors believe she had survived a failed infanticide attempt by her parents.