“An Indian man has ben told by doctors that all his internal organs are back-to-front in what is thought to be the only living case of “situs inversus”. Doctors believe that the 64-year-old could be the only man in the world whose internal organs are in the mirror opposite position of where they should be.
Ashok Shivnani was about to have surgery to remove a tumour on his kidney in Mumbai when doctors realised most of his chest and abdominal organs and many blood vessels were on the opposite side of his body. The condition is known as “situs inversus”. In Mr Shivnani’s case, they discovered the aorta and inferior vena cava, which pump clean blood in and impure blood from the heart were reversed. He also has two livers. “While operating we were supposed to know the exact location of everything that we are going to touch. But in this case we were not sure which veins were entering where,” Dr Prakash Sanzgiri told the Times of India.
Surgeons also found he had no small intestine and three vessels supplying blood to his infected kidney. More surprising is the fact that Mr Shivnani had survived two hernia operations and been examined for chronic lung disease without learning of his unique anatomy. “Never in my life did I know that my body was different,” he said. ”
There’s and HG Well’s story called The Plattner Story where a man’s internal organs switch around due to “shenanigans”.
Forgive me, but surely “back-to-front” gives the wrong impression of where the organs are, if they\’re actually mirrored?
That indeed must be tricky .. discovering this while on the surgeon’s table … No routine business in that team for sure from that moment on!
As I know, “situs inversus” is rare, but there are some more than only one confirmed case.
One example: The NBA basketball player Randy Foye, who is very much alive:
http://wcco.com/sports/Minnesota.Timberwolves.Randy.2.371610.html
Situs inversus seems to occur in roughly 1:10000 cases, caused by a recessive gene.
Actually, there are hundreds of us with this condition, he’s by no means the only one, not even close.
It’s rare, but it’s not that rare! I have Situs Ambiguous which is even rarer, where my organs aren’t even in mirror image, they’re all over the place, and even I am not the only one. I’ve also got loads of spleens (polysplenia) and a few other things that go with it like shortened pancreas, bi-lobed lungs etc.
It’s rare, yes, but no, he’s not the only one and there are forms that are even more unusual.
did they check to make sure he wasnt a time lord?
Yes, it’s not that rare. I’m a sonographer and had a patient 2 years ago with complete situs inversus. My patient only had one liver, but it was on the wrong side of his body. Everything (spleen, heart, great vessels) was flipped over the y-axis, as it were, laid over the midline of his body. As long as everything still connects up ok, you’re fine.
“situs inversus”, yes or no?
well…. reminder: it’s the telegraph. it just sums up what it had found out reading other paper’s articles… google those. go, go.
Agree…certainly not the only one. my father has the same condition. No extra organs but totally mirror image. I find it curious that there is no obvious family link. None of his older realtives have the same, and myself and my brother are “normal” and I believe our kids to be “normal”
It took them 64 years to find that out?
I will not go to a doctor in India!!! When they listen to your lungs and hear your heart beat that should be a good give away that something is very weird.
2 livers?
All those years waster not winning drinking competition down at the pub!
Precisely the same thing happened to my aunt when she abused a swivel chair during work time!