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Question: Dextrocardia Info. ?
| Mutant1981
- Thu May 17, 2007 12:48 pm |
25/M and I have recently been diagnosed with Dextrocardia when I was 23. My family has had no conditions like this. Is there plus sides to this rarity? I don't know if I have situs-inversus w/ this. Is this condition becoming more poplular in people?
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| Dr. Chan Lowe
- Thu May 17, 2007 5:19 pm |
 Dextrocardia may or may not be associated with Situs Inversus. If you were not diagnosed until age 23 I suspect that you are not having any problems with it.
Dextrocardia may not be picked up initially on an x-ray because it is rare so when we see the heart on the right instead of left we usually assume the x-ray is backwards. Unless an astute physician looks for other clues it can easily be missed.
Dextrocardia may have associated cardiac abnormalities or it may be an incidental reversal with no complications. If there are no other complications the heart will function as if it were on the left without problems.
To my knowledge, this condition is not increasing in the population. It is fairly rare but I have seen a handful of cases over the past several years.
To determine if you also have situs inversus one should have an x-ray of the abdomen or ultrasound to look at the positioning of the abdominal organs.
As an aside, when this condition is diagnosed it is always advised to actually listen to the heart and determine which side it is on to be sure the x-ray is not, in fact, backwards and that dextrocardia is the diagnosis.
Best wishes.
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