Complications Of Dextrocardia

Heterotaxy

Heterotaxy is a condition that sometimes co-occurs with dextrocardia. Someone with heterotaxy has a lot of organs in the wrong place in the chest and abdomen, though they do not appear as an exact mirror image like in situs inversus, and those organs may have multiple defects. These defects can be mild enough to cause few symptoms; they can also cause serious life-threatening problems. Problems are likely to occur if the heart and other organs are not shaped correctly or have parts in the wrong places. The affected organs may include the lungs, spleen, and pancreas, in addition to the heart. This condition is very rare, affecting only one in ten thousand individuals. It is more common in black and Hispanic people than in Caucasian individuals.