CHAPTER I.. Cardiac Anomalies.

CARDIAC ANOMALIES.

ECTOPIA OF THE HEART.

Ectopia of the heart, i.e., congenital malformation in which the heart is displaced from its normal position and thrust sometimes completely beyond the thoracic cavity, is not very rare. The heart may be well developed, but it is not enclosed by the thoracic walls when the thoracic cavity closes during the first stages of embryonic life. The sternum, which is cartilaginous and becomes ossified only at a later period, remains fissured along the median line, and the fissure, usually of oval form and with rounded margins, surrounds the auricles and the vessels at the base of the heart. The ventricles form a hernia projecting beyond the thorax, which then only contains the two pleural sacs and a complete mediastinal partition. The pericardium remains undeveloped.

Despite this malformation, the embryo develops. The fœtus may in due season be brought forth living, but as a rule death occurs in a few hours.

=The diagnosis= is easy, but this malformation cannot be treated. All that can be done is to protect the ectopiated organ against external violence in cases where the young creature is born alive.