Sternal cleft--a natural absurdity or a surgical opportunity
Suvitesh Luthra1, Rajinder Singh Dhaliwal, Harkant Singh
1Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India. suviteshluthra@yahoo.com
Journal of Pediatric Surgery
|March 6, 2007
Abstract:
Sternal cleft is a rare visually dramatic congenital anomaly. It results from failure of fusion of the 2 lateral mesodermal sternal bars by the 8 weeks of gestation. Superior clefts are more frequent than inferior ones, and isolated central clefts are extremely rare. We describe the case of a 4-year-old girl with a central sternal cleft that was closed autogenously with pectoralis major advancement flaps.
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