US Woman With Organs on the Wrong Side of Body Lives Until 99; What Is Situs Inversus, Her Bizarre Medical Condition?
Strangely, despite having multiple surgeries, doctors were not able to identify her condition.
A US woman Rose Marie Bentley from Oregon was born with a unique condition that defies the laws of medical science. Although she had no knowledge of it, Rose was born with her organs on the wrong side of her body. More amazingly, she had a normal life and lived until 99 years. She didn’t have any chronic medical problems apart from arthritis. Her condition was brought to by students in an anatomy class who got to have a closer look at her body, which she serendipitously donated to medical science. They found out that her organs were not placed right. Strangely, despite having multiple surgeries, doctors were not able to identify her condition.
According to doctors who examined her corpse, Rose had situs inversus. Her abdominal organs, including liver and stomach, were positioned right to left. She also had levocardia, in which her heart was positioned on the normal (left) side of the body. Italian Man Who Cries Tears of Blood Has Haemolacria, A Rare Medical Condition.
BBC reports say that it all started when the anatomy students failed to locate a major blood vessel. It triggered a cascade effect, as they discovered that many of her organs were not where they should have been. That’s when they realised Rose’s is a unique case. Man With 35 Kg Testicles Undergoes Life-Saving Surgery, Finally Gets To Have Sex With Wife After 7 Years.
Both Rose and her husband had donated their bodies to the Oregon Health and Science University body donation programme. Her family told BBC that the couple were inspired after they read a poem by Robert Noel Test.
What is Situs Inversus?
Situs inversus is a medical condition where the visceral organs (organs inside the abdominal cavity and chest) are positioned in on the wrong side or are reversed. Its opposite is called situs solis where the organs are on the correct side.
Situs inversus is quite rare, found in 1 among in 10,000. In most people with situs inversus, cardiac problems are common. However, they generally have no other medical symptoms because all the organs are aligned to function normally (although on the wrong side) and the relationship between them doesn’t change.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 12, 2019 12:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).