Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  1997 Oct;40(10):2317-2321.

A Case of Prenatal Diagnosis of Thoracic Ectopia Cordis

Abstract

Ectopia cordis is defined as a congenital malposition of the heart partially or completely outside the thorax and often associated with sternal and congenital heart defects:surgical repair is generally unsuccessful because of the magnitude of the deformity and the associat-ed intracardiac anormalies. Four types of ectopia cordis are described : cervical, thoracic, abdominal and thoracoa- bdominal. Cervical and thoracic type are often fatal within days, because the heart is expo- sed and malformed. Abdominal type carries a better prognosis because cardiac abnormalities are less often found. The prognosis of thoraco-abdominal type mainly depends on the pre- sence of intracardiac abnormalities. We have experienced a case of thoracic ectopia cordis at 25 weeks' gestation by ultra- sonography, so present the case and the review with literature briefly.


MeSH Terms

Congenital Abnormalities
Ectopia Cordis*
Heart
Pregnancy
Prenatal Diagnosis*
Prognosis
Thorax
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