YOUR HEALTH – ALL YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT KARTAGENER SYNDROME

This post should probably fall under Amazing Findings, because until yesterday, I had no idea someone could have his or her organs reversed or in a mirrored state ….. This is what my average nigerian would refer to as the works of the people that fly at night from the person’s village, if you understand what am talking about for those of us who are from Africa.

Anyways, I came about this finding while researching on what to put off for my health column on the blog today.

Now lets crack it... Take a seat and listen while I educate you on this new discovery I came across.

Situs inversus is a congenital condition where a person is born with their visceral organs in the reversed or “mirrored” condition to what most of the population consider normal (situs solitus). For instance, the heart is on the right side of the chest instead of the left. The appendix is on the left instead of the right, you’d think on the left side you’d be operating on the lung with 2 lobes only to open up and find it has 3 lobes, I guess this further stresses the importance of the patient’s anamnesis. It is a rare condition and exists in less than 1 in 10,000 person, so what happens here is; bearing in mind that it’s a congenital disorder. Then you might want to ask  what’s the connection between respiration and situs inversus?

Here’s the really long but interesting part

the mechanism or the pathophysiology of its development, the connection is, according to wikipedia, 25% of individuals with situs inversus have an underlying condition known as PCD (primary ciliary dyskinesia) and those with PCD have a 50% chance of developing situs inversus, now if they do, they are said to have Kartagener syndrome which is characterised by the triad of situs inversus, chronic sinusitis and bronchiectasis.

People that have situs inversus present unusual medical problems, for instance, appendicitis can go undiagnosed because the appendix will be on the opposite side of the body, the liver edge would also be palpated on the left instead of the right making organ transplants especially of the heart way more complicated as organs from normal donors must be fitted in such a way that everything hooks up in a weird kind of right, which is now unique to the congenital peculiarity of that person.

Situs inversus is generally not fatal as many people live with the condition and never know it, although others still have complications unique to their condition. With that said, Randy Foye, is an American basketball player in the NBA living very well with no distinguishable signs of situs inverus.

Writing this post was interesting as it was educative, hope you were informed through this post. I hope I get to meet a patient with situs inversus.

Expect to read more amazing findings I’d discover on health and life issues. 

N.B. feel free to email (info.posche@gmail.com) a post of any amazing medical findings you think might tickle our fancy.

Have an awesome week. 

Ciao!

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