There is a rare case where the organs in the abdomen and thorax can be flipped to the opposite side of the body, a condition known as situs inversus totalis.
What Is Situs Inversus Totalis?
The organs in the human body are placed in a set order and position. Such an organization is very useful, especially in diagnosing specific medical conditions. For instance, a person who experiences appendicitis or gallstones can tell their doctors where the agonizing pain is.
There are cases, however, when organs end up in the "wrong" place. An example of this is dextrocardia, a single organ abnormality where the heart is flipped to the right instead of being slightly over to the left.
It is estimated that around one in 12,000 people are born this way. People with dextrocardia can still live a normal life since the only symptom is a different readout on an ECG. The only circumstances where their life expectancy is affected is if they have other heart defects.
Situs inversus totalis is very rare and affects only one in 10,000 people, typically males. In some patients, only the heart and lungs are mirrored, a condition known as situs inversus.
Those who suffer from this condition may never notice any observable symptoms if they are healthy. There are even reports of individuals living well beyond the average life expectancy only to be diagnosed with situs inversus totalis after death.
More than 100 genes play an important role in making sure that our body organs develop properly on their normal side. Situs inversus is inherited when both parents pass on a defective copy of this gene.
Read also: Organ Displacement During Pregnancy: How Does a Woman's Body Shift To Make Room For a Growing Baby?
Organ Flipping Due to Structural Defects
There are also cases of situs inversus totalis, where all the abdominal and thoracic organs are flipped to the opposite side of the body. Famous celebrities like Enrique Iglesias, Donny Osmond, and Catherine O'Hara have this strange condition. In Osmond's case, the condition was diagnosed when his appendicitis was reported to cause pain on the left instead of its normal location on the right.
In situs inversus totalis, the teeth seem to have a habit of appearing far from where they should be. There are people who have grown teeth in their noses, causing symptoms like nosebleeds and infections. There are also cases where teeth are found in the eye socket, which is not easy to remove, especially if they are firmly anchored in the bone.
There are also cases of situs inversus totalis which happen due to the problems in body structure, especially the diaphragm, a thin muscle which keeps the thoracic organs in the chest and the abdominal organs in the abdomen. There are normal openings in the diaphragm, but they can become weak due to increased pressure.
When abdominal organs end up in the chest or outside the abdominal cavity, a person can develop a hernia. Hernia can be classified as either hiatal, where part of the stomach breaches through the opening of the esophagus, or inguinal, where pieces of the bowel enter the lower abdomen and protrude into the groin.
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