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SALEM, Oregon (AP) – Rose Marie Bentley was a great swimmer. She raised five children, helped her husband manage a grocery store and lived until the age of 99. It was only a year after his death, in 2017, that the students and their professor in a medical school discovered that all his internal organs, with the exception of his heart, were at home. wrong place.
The discovery of this rare disease, presented this week at a conference of anatomists, was staggering, not least because Walker had lived so long. People with the disease called situs inversus with levocardia often have life threatening heart problems and other abnormalities, according to Oregon Health & Science University.
Cameron Walker's class at Portland University was examining a corpse's heart last year when they noticed that the blood vessels were different. When they opened the abdominal cavity, they saw that all the other organs were on the wrong side.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Walker described his reaction to the discovery.
"A mixture of curiosity, fascination and willingness to explore a medical mystery – a medical wonder – that was before us," he told the Associated Press. "And I would say that the students felt something very similar."
Bentley's family was unaware of the condition that, according to OHSU, only occurs once in 22,000. Apparently, Bentley either.
Bentley, who lived in Molalla, 40 km south of Portland, had led a normal life. Her only recurring physical complaint was arthritis, recalls her daughter Louise Allee.
But there were signs.
When Bentley was in her 50s, she underwent a hysterectomy and the doctor also wanted to remove the appendix. But he could not find it, Allee said in a phone interview.
When her gall bladder was removed at least a decade later, it is the opposite of where it should have been, she said.
"No one said anything," said Allee. "I was surprised, it was before they did it with a telescope and she had a good sized incision.You may think that they would have said something, but they did not do it. "
Walker had agreed to donate his body to OHSU, Oregon's only academic health center. The first sign for the students there that Walker's anatomy was unusual was when they were examining the area around his heart.
"They noticed that the blood vessels were different and called us. Instead of telling them that they were blind, I decided to take a look and try to determine what the anomaly was, "said Walker, a professor. assistant in anatomy. .
"And it was not entirely clear until we went into the abdominal cavity … that his organs were transposed from left to right," Walker said.
Unusual blood vessels near the heart compensated for this condition.
Walker Monday presented a poster on the discovery at an annual meeting of the American Association of Anatomists in Orlando, Florida, on experimental biology.
"This is an important case that has really given us the opportunity to talk about the importance for future clinicians of paying attention to subtle anatomical variations, not just large anatomical variations, in terms of treating their future patients with as individuals, "Walker said. "Do not judge a book on its cover, but always check what you have before talking about care."
He did research on the age of people with the disease and found no documented cases in which a person lived beyond 73 years. Bentley has surpassed this figure of 26 years.
Allee said that her mother would have been delighted that the gift of her body led to a learning experience.
"She would have been delighted to know that she could educate with something unusual," Allee said. "Dad would have liked to know to tease her."
Her husband, James, died about 15 years ago.
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