Total situs inversus: a genetic material bank as a new tool for anatomical research

Excerpt

For morphologists, a chest radiograph with a mirror-image inversion may represent a rare case of situs inversus instead of a routine radiological misprint. Such lateralization anomalies are rather well documented in animals (i.e., mouse, Xenopus toad, or Drosophila) but remain ill defined in humans and have a complicated and confused terminology. These anomalies are separated into two main subgroups: partial situs inversus and total situs inversus. Partial situs inversus is frequently associated with cardiac malformations and is therefore mostly discovered during childhood, whereas total situs inversus is often asymptomatic with absence of associated malformations. The overall situs inversus frequency ranges from 1/8,000 to 1/25,000 [2]. Several syndromes have been described in humans, such as Kartagener's syndrome including ciliary motility disorders, responsible for complete situs inversus, chronic sinusitis, bronchiectasis and male infertility [1, 2]. In other situs inversus cases, only slight anomalies are present. We had the opportunity to observe a case of complete situs inversus associated with incomplete mesentery rotation during the dissection of a female cadaver aged 87 years [3]. …