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A 99-year-old Oregon woman may be dead by not knowing that many of her organs were not where they should have been.
Rose Marie Bentley is thought to be the oldest person with a rare condition called situs inversus with levocardia, which means her heart was in the right place, but her liver and other abdominal organs were growing on the side. left of his body. human anatomy.
Medical students from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland discovered Bentley's condition during an anatomy class last spring. Cameron Walker, an assistant professor of anatomy, said his students first noticed that the blood vessels in Bentley's chest were oddly trained, but did not realize how much variation there was before the end of the year. semester.
Rose Marie Bentley, whom we see here on an undated photo near the end of her life, apparently would have lived 99 years without knowing that she was suffering from a rare anatomical disorder called situs inversus with levocardia . (Photo courtesy of the Bentley family)
"When we examined the organs of his abdominal cavity – which contains the organs of the digestive tract – they were transposed entirely from right to left," Walker said. "I had never seen this before and the students were equally fascinated."
Situs inversus with levocardia occurs in about one in 22,000 births and the prognosis is generally poor, according to a study published in the Medical Journal of Singapore. According to the research, there have been only two documented cases of patients with this disease living in the 70 years.
Walker estimates that one in 50 million people born with Bentley's disease lives long enough to become an adult. Although this organ arrangement is generally associated with serious heart problems, he said Bentley's heart was generally in good shape.
Bentley's family told the university that his only chronic problem was arthritis. Despite the removal of three organs during his lifetime, only the surgeon who removed his appendix noted his unusual location in his notes.
Bentley, a mother of five, loved working at her church and at the pet food store she ran with her husband James, according to his obituary. Her daughter, Louise Allee, told the university that her mother would have liked to receive this attention.
"My mother would think it's so cool," Allee said. "She would be tickled in pink to be able to teach something like that. She would probably have a big smile on her face, knowing that she was different, but succeeded.
Follow N & # 39; dea Yancey-Bragg on Twitter: @NdeaYanceyBragg
Read or share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/08/oregon-woman-99-organs-wrong-side-body/3405878002/
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