Successful surgical repair of congenital total cleft sternum with partial ectopia cordis.

Total bifid sternum with or without ectopia cordis is a rare congenital anomaly which is treated successfully in a limited number of cases. Several methods of correction have been described using tissue grafts (cartilage, bone), inert artificial prostheses (acrylic plaques, marlex mesh), and techniques to approximate the sternal bands by relaxation of costal cartilages. In our case the method described by Verska was used to approximate the bifid sternal bands. The successful result in our patient proves the efficiency of this technique.