Between 1985 and 1990, three neonates with ectopia cordis (EC) were admitted to the InCor - FMUSP; two had thoracoabdominal type and one thoracic type. All patients had associated cardiac anomalies: tricuspid atresia type I-A, abscence of central pulmonary arteries and systemic-pulmonary collaterals (one patient); ventricular septal defect (VSD) and atrial septal defect (ASD) (one patient); ASD (one patient). One child was not operated upon, due to infection in pulmonary artery laceration, with death caused by bleeding. The others were operated upon in order to provide a skin coverage; one died in low cardiac output on the early postoperative period; the other died on the 141 st day of postoperative period, caused by respiratory failure. This long evolution was possibly due to a cardiac defect with no significant repercussion (ASD) and to a contribution of a plastic surgeon. This paper describes these three cases and makes a brief review of the literature.
ectopia cordis