In approximately 10 % of cases, anomalies associated with biliary atresia include heart lesions, polysplenia, situs inversus, absent venae cavae, and a preduodenal portal vein.
22.
Dextrocardia with situs inversus afflicts about 1 person in 7, 500 and is more common than dextrocardia in isolation, which affects about 1 in 29, 000.
23.
Kartagener syndrome may also be present in patients with dextrocardia situs inversus but also involves mirrored positioning of major internal organs and may include male infertility.
24.
For example, a person with situs inversus who requires a heart transplant needs all the vessels to the transplant donor heart reattached to their existing ones.
25.
If the heart is swapped to the right side of the thorax, it is known as " situs inversus with dextrocardia " or " situs inversus totalis ".
26.
In the absence of congenital heart defects, individuals with situs inversus are phenotypically normal, and can live normal healthy lives, without any complications related to their medical condition.
27.
For example, if an individual with situs inversus develops appendicitis, they will present to the physician with lower left abdominal pain, since that is where their appendix lies.
28.
If the heart is swapped to the right side of the thorax, it is known as " situs inversus with dextrocardia " or " situs inversus totalis ".
29.
When heart transplantation is required in a person with situs inversus, reconstruction of the venous pathways to accommodate a normal donor heart is a major, but not insurmountable, challenge.
30.
My patient had, in addition to dextrocardia, situs inversus : her visceral organs, the stomach, liver, spleen and intestines, were also " backward, " the mirror image of normal.
