A Rare Case of Left-Sided Gastroschisis in a Human Museum Specimen

Gastroschisis is a congenital defect in the anterior abdominal wall resulting in herniation of the abdominal viscera without any fetal membrane covering it. It usually occurs to the right of a normally inserted umbilical cord. The anomaly is associated with intrauterine growth retardation, stillbirth, and preterm delivery. We found a preserved specimen of a 17- to 20-week-old male human fetus presenting with gastroschisis in the Departmental Museum of Anatomy of the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneshwar, a medical college in Eastern India. The fetus showed a hiatus on the left side in the infraumbilical portion of the anterior abdominal wall with evisceration of the liver, spleen, coils of the small intestine, and a segment of the large intestine. The fetus otherwise had no obvious gross abnormality. The case is of particular interest as the incidence of left-sided gastroschisis is very rare.