The purpose of the blog is to document my external learning of Developmental Biology. Enjoy!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Dextrocardia

Dextrocardia is a condition where the heart is located on the right side instead of the left side. Below is an image of the condition. Not just the heart itself, but also the associated blood vessels.
What is interesting is that is a genetic disorder. It is autosomal recessive. Oddly enough, it can also be X-linked. Those that have it are actually normal phenotypically. Most don't find out about their condition until later in life or they have other pressing medical issues. This actually makes heart transplants very difficult. Doctors would have to use extra measures of taking a normal person's heart and associated vessels and tailoring it to the person with dextrocardia.

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