A neonate with the heart in the right hemithorax
Three neonates presented with the heart in the right hemithorax: a newborn girl with a chest deformity and secondary dextrocardia (Poland sequence), a prematurely born girl with uncomplicated Kartagener's syndrome, and a newborn boy with cyanosis and the heart in the right hemithorax, in whom a surgical correction was indicated. A diagnosis ofdextrocardia should include the differentiation between primary and secondary dextrocardia. Secondary dextrocardia, or dextroposition, is the result of chest deformities, diaphragmatic defects, severe lung disease, or the presence of a mass displacing the heart from its normal position, usually without any cardiac abnormalities. In primary dextrocardia, the position of the organs in the abdomen is important for the differential diagnosis and the prognosis. The incidence of congenital cardiac malformations in primary dextrocardia varies from 10%, in situs inversus totalis, up to 90% in solitary dextrocardia.