Ectopia Cordis Research Paper

Introduction

Ectopia cordis is a Latin word meaning ‘outside’ and ‘heart’. So with that being said ectopia cordis is when the heart forms partially or completely outside of the chest cavity. Ectopia cordis is a genetic disorder they say but there is no evidence that it is genetically transmissible disease due to a case of an infant who was born with ectopia cordis but no record of family history with that disease.
It has been said that ectopia cordis occurs mostly in female infants. An estimate of 0.079/10,000 births of infants are born with ectopia cordis meaning that 0.069 of ectopia cordis infants are females. …show more content…
It remains unknown but there are possible reasons for the cause of ectopia cordis that doctors have picked up throughout the years.
POSSIBLE CAUSES:
Defects characterized by the heart or very big vessels developing in the wrong places normally leads to ectopia cordis. Improper development of the chest cavity’s during the embryonic stage which is the 8th day of the embryonic life. The ventral body wall formation fails to develop properly. Defective in the ventral body wall formation makes the heart unprotected by its supposed to be natural protective structures such as the pericardium, sternum, and even the skin. Ectopia cordis can also be caused by the chromosomal abnormalities like trisomy 18 and turner …show more content…
Diagnosis for Ectopia Cordis

The case diagnosed at 9 weeks is the earliest prenatal diagnosis reported. The diagnosis is based on the demonstration of the fatal heart outside the thoracic
Cavity. . Ectopia cordis can be diagnosed by routine prenatal ultrasonography (diagnostic medical procedure that uses sound waves to produce images) as early as in 10-20 weeks of pregnancy. If not diagnosed then this will result in still birth or die shorty after they birth. In the olden days you only knew after birth if the child had ectopia cordis.

Treatment for Ectopia Cordis

• Foetal surgery procedure that would require extensive research. If they survived the surgical operation then they will be viable for orthotropic heart transplantation.
• They keep patient in temperature regulated (35 Degrees) incubator in propped up posture.
• Initial management included covering of the heart and omphalocele with sterile saline soaked gauze pads, systemic antibiotics.
• Intubation and put on mechanical ventilation.
• Inotropic drugs infusion, support the heart and maintain systemic blood pressure.
Ectopia

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Ectopia Cordis Research Paper