Rare occurence: Baby baby born with the heart beating OUTSIDE his body

Photo: NewsFlare
Rare: In the photographs, captured in Xianyang, Shanxi Province on Monday, the baby's heart can be seen beating in the middle of his chest with only a thin layer of skin covering it

Astonishing pictures show the incredible images captured in Shanxi Province, China
 Only eight in a million have the rare condition, called Ectopia cordis
 90 percent are born either stillborn or dying  ...only 50 known cases have reached the age of 12

Continue reading after the cut .....


Alarming footage has emerged from China of a baby born with an extremely rare condition whereby his heart is partly on the outside of his body.
In the video, captured in Xianyang, Shanxi Province on Monday, the baby's heart can be seen beating in the middle of his chest with only a thin layer of skin covering it.
He lies on his back as nurses tend to him. They gently wipe his chest, carefully avoiding the pumping organ.






Photo: NewsFlare
Beating: The abnormality, Ectopia cordis, is a congenital malformation in which the heart is abnormally located either partially or totally outside the thorax


The abnormality, Ectopia cordis, is a congenital malformation in which the heart is abnormally located either partially or totally outside the thorax.
The condition can cause the heart to be located anywhere from the neck to the lower abdomen, although in most cases it protrudes outside the chest through a split sternum.



 Dangerous: The development of the muscles that hold the baby's organs in place fails, leading to them bursting through barely developed muscle and bone, and continuing to grow outside the skin


 
Photo: NewsFlare
Gentle: Incredibly rare, the condition only only eight in every one million births, with 90 per cent of these babies either stillborn or dying within the first three days - usually through infection, hypoxemia, or cardiac failure




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