Extrathoracic ectopia cordis. Case report.

Extrathoracic ectopia cordis is a challenging congenital anomaly: surgical repair is generally unsuccessful because of the magnitude of the deformity and the associated intracardiac anomalies. Our clinical case had additional surgical risk for prematurity. Immediately after birth the mediastinal space was surgically enlarged and the naked heart covered with a prosthetic patch. Complete repair (placement of the heart inside the chest) would have been done later. The newborn infant survived the 1st procedure; unfortunately few hours later he died for not cardiac-related causes. Surgical strategies on this topic are discussed.