A Rare Anterior Abdominal Wall Defect: Omphalocele - A Case Report

Abstract

Two most common anterior abdominal wall defects are gastroschisis and omphalocoele or exomphalos. Gastroschisis means 'stomach cleft' which is a congenital defect of the abdominal wall, usually to the right of the umbilical cord insertion and abdominal contents herniate into the amniotic sac. Exomphalos is literally translated from the Greek, means 'outside the navel'. It is also called an Omphalocele. It is a congenital abnormality in which the contents of the abdomen herniate into the umbilical cord through the umbilical ring. Textbooks grouped them together but these are different entities. These congenital malformations have a high mortality rate. Only about 60 % of children with such type of malformations survive until the end of first year of age. A male foetus of 32 weeks gestational age was sent from Dr. Ulhas Patil Medical College and Hospital, Jalgaon (Khurd) to the Department of Anatomy to examine the fetus for congenital anomalies. A case report of an Omphalocele was presented. Occurrence of such cases is very rare about 2.17 per 10000 live births as reported in literature.

Keywords

• Anterior abdominal wall defect
• Gastroschisis
• Omphalocoele
• Exomphalos