A Case of Prenatal Diagnosis of Thoracic Ectopia Cordis / 대한산부인과학회잡지

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 defectssurgical 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.