Splenic Injury in Situs Inversus Totalis - A Surgical Challenge

Situs inversus totalis is a rare congenital anomaly in which position of the heart and all abdominal viscera is reversed. Situs abnormalities usually go unnoticed but may be recognized by radiography or ultrasonography as an incidental finding or during evaluation for congenital heart diseases. We present such an extremely rare and to the best of our knowledge the third reported case of an injured spleen in the right hypochondrium, following seemingly trivial blunt trauma in a patient with situs inversus totalis who underwent splenectomy. The presence of associated congenital heart defects, visceral anatomical variations and mirror imaging makes the anaesthetic management as well as the surgical exercise a challenging one in such cases.