Total congenital sternal cleft isolated in a newborn of 20 days: Rare case

Sternal clefts are rare malformations, especially in their complete form, which results from a lack of fusion of the sternal bars, which is normally done at the 9th week of intra uterine life. The incomplete form is often associated with other malformations of the chest wall, or falling within the framework of a polymalformative syndrome, the diagnosis is easy, being done with the inspection and the palpation, the paraclinical examinations are useful for confirming the diagnosis. We report the case of a total congenital sternal cleft isolated in an asymptomatic 20-day-old newborn. Thoracic CT, with threedimensional reconstructions, without injection of the contrast product confirmed the diagnosis, showing the presence of two hemistonids hypoplastic. The aim of our work is to draw attention to this pathology from birth because surgery must be undertaken during the first weeks of life to protect the heart and large vessels from any trauma, to improve respiratory dynamics and for aesthetic reasons.