gastroschisis

Term: gastroschisis

Literally meaning: “stomach cleft”

Origin: Anc Greek

γαστήρ/gaster(=abdomen)

σχίσις/schisis (=division)

Coined/History

The term was coined in 1894 by Italian pathologist Cesare Taruffi (1821-1902) “Storia della Teratologia” although this condition had already been reported earlier. In 1887 William P Hogue reported the first successful repair applied plaster strips.

Definition

Gastroschisis is a congenital abnormality of the abdominal wall, in which the infant’s intestine usually herniate into the right of the umbilical cord. As a consequence, the unprotected intestine becomes irritated causing it to swell. The incidence of this abnormality is about 4-5:10.000 live births and it is diagnosed often prenatally by routine ultrasound in the second trimester. Gastroschisis is different from exomphalos because never has a sac.