eMedicine Specialties > Radiology > Pediatrics

Situs Inversus: Follow-up

Author: Annamaria Wilhelm, MD, Staff Physician, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic
Coauthor(s): John M Holbert, MD, Professor, Department of Radiology, Scott and White Memorial Hospital and Clinic
Contributor Information and Disclosures

Updated: Feb 24, 2009

Intervention

If radiologic intervention is to be performed in a patient with situs inversus, the condition should be known from earlier diagnostic imaging. A question of improper image labeling must be resolved before any procedure is initiated.33

Medicolegal Pitfalls

  • Failure to recognize situs inversus before performing a radiologic procedure may result in intervention on the incorrect side in the patient.
  • Attention to the left and right sides of the patient and the left and right labeling of images is helpful to prevent mistakes in diagnosis and/or surgical intervention.

Special Concerns

  • Discordance between the direction of the cardiac apex and the abdominal situs suggests congenital heart disease.
  • Situs ambiguous and situs inversus with levocardia have this discordance between the direction of the cardiac apex and the abdominal situs; thus, further imaging is usually needed.
 


More on Situs Inversus

Overview: Situs Inversus
Imaging: Situs Inversus
Follow-up: Situs Inversus
Multimedia: Situs Inversus
References
Further Reading
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References

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Keywords

situs inversus, situs inversus totalis, situs inversus with dextrocardia, situs inversus with levocardia, mirror image of situs solitus, mirror-image organs, situs solitus, situs ambiguous/ambiguus, Kartagener syndrome, Kartagener's syndrome, primary ciliary dysplasia, PCD, primary ciliary diskinesia

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Contributor Information and Disclosures

Author

Annamaria Wilhelm, MD, Staff Physician, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic
Annamaria Wilhelm, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Radiology
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

John M Holbert, MD, Professor, Department of Radiology, Scott and White Memorial Hospital and Clinic
John M Holbert, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Radiology, American Roentgen Ray Society, and Radiological Society of North America
Disclosure: Amirsys Royalty Other

Medical Editor

Henrique M Lederman, MD, PhD, Consulting Staff, Department of Radiology, LeBonheur Children's Medical Center and St Jude Children's Research Hospital; Professor of Radiology and Pediatric Radiology, Chief, Division of Diagnostic Imaging in Pediatrics, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
Henrique M Lederman, MD, PhD is a member of the following medical societies: Society for Pediatric Radiology
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Pharmacy Editor

Bernard D Coombs, MB, ChB, PhD, Consulting Staff, Department of Specialist Rehabilitation Services, Hutt Valley District Health Board, New Zealand
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Managing Editor

Marta Hernanz-Schulman, MD, FAAP, Professor, Radiology, Radiological Sciences, and Pediatrics, Director, Department of Pediatric Radiology, Radiologist-in-Chief, Director, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt Children's Hospital
Marta Hernanz-Schulman, MD, FAAP is a member of the following medical societies: American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and American Roentgen Ray Society
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

CME Editor

Robert M Krasny, MD, Consulting Staff, Department of Radiology, The Angeles Clinic and Research Institute
Robert M Krasny, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Roentgen Ray Society and Radiological Society of North America
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Chief Editor

John Karani, MBBS, FRCR, Consulting Staff, Department of Radiology, King's College Hospital, London
Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

 
 
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