Levocardia

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Levocardia
Specialty Cardiology

Levocardia refers to the most common location of the human heart, on the left side of the thoracic cavity. [1] This is opposed to dextrocardia, in which the heart is in the right side. Neither levocardia nor dextrocardia are indicative of the orientation of the visceral organs, which can be in situs solitus , where the remainder of the organs are on normal side as well; or situs inversus , in which the viscera (stomach, liver, intestines, lungs, etc.) are on the opposite side as normal. The latter condition may or may not be associated with clinically relevant abnormalities.

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Situ or situs may refer to:

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Isolated levocardia is a rare type of organs' situs inversus in which the heart is still in normal position but other abdominal viscera are transposed. Isolated levocardia may occur with heart defects and patients without having operations have low life expectancy: only about 5% to 13% of patients survive more than 5 years. Therefore, even though the risk of cardiac surgeries is high, once patients are diagnosed, operations are suggested to be held as soon as possible. Isolated levocardia is congenital. So far, there is not sufficient evidence to prove that chromosome abnormalities will result in isolated levocardia, and the cause of isolated levocardia is still unknown.

References

  1. Gatzoulis, Michael A.; Webb, Gary D.; Daubeney, Piers E. F. (2017). Diagnosis and Management of Adult Congenital Heart Disease E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 545. ISBN   9780702069314 . Retrieved 5 September 2017.