[Ectopia cordis and cardiac anomalies]

Abstract

Ectopia cordis is a rare disease that occurs in 5.5 to 7.9 per million live births. Only 267 cases had been reported as of 2001, most (95%) associated with other cardiac anomalies. We studied the cardiac malformations associated in 6 patients with ectopia cordis. Depending on where the defect was located, the cases of ectopia were classified into four groups: cervical, thoracic, thoraco-abdominal, and abdominal. All 6 patients died before the third day of life, 4 during delivery. Three of the patients were included in the thoracic group, whereas the other 3 belonged to the thoraco-abdominal group. All the patients had associated ventricular septal defects, 3 double-outlet right ventricle (50%) and the rest (50%) tetralogy of Fallot-pulmonary atresia. Two patients with double-outlet right ventricle presented mitral-valve pathology, a parachute valve and an atresic mitral valve. None of these cardiac anomalies have been reported to date.