A three day old neonate was referred to our department with a problem of a sternal cleft. Sternal clefts are often associated with a myriad of other abnormalities ranging from mild to severe. We present our experience with such a problem, and review the current literature concerning it.

Sternal cleft is a rare congenital malformation with little more than 100 cases published worldwide. Incomplete sternal clefting in a female newborn is the most frequent form seen. First-line treatment is the surgical defect closure in the neonatal period. Presurgical examination has to focus on common associated malformations, in particular cardiac defects. The surgical repair of sternal cleft...

Dumitrescu A, et al. BMJ Case Rep 2017. doi:10.1136/bcr-2017-220237 Description We present the video case report (see online supplementary video) of a term newborn with complete sternal cleft and skin defect 2 cm in diameter, without other associated anomaly, including skeletal (figure 1). She was born by elective C-section due to breech presentation. There was no prenatal diagnosis. The baby w...

a three day old neonate was referred to our department with a problem of a sternal cleft. sternal clefts are often associated with a myriad of other abnormalities ranging from mild to severe. we present our experience with such a problem, and review the current literature concerning it.

Congenital sternal cleft is a rare disorder in which there is a gap in the midline of the anterior chest wall between the two halves of the sternum. Typically, the contour of the mediastinal structures can be seen beneath the skin. It is rare and the exact incidence is not known. It results from failure of fusion of the two lateral mesodermal sternal bars by 8 weeks of gestation. Most cases are...

Sternal cleft is a very rare congenital anomaly, which can occur as an isolated or associated with other anomalies. We report a patient with a mesh-repaired complete sternal cleft complicated by infection with a multi-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The patch was surgically removed.

A three day old neonate was referred to our department with a problem of a sternal cleft. Sternal clefts are often associated with a myriad of other abnormalities ranging from mild to severe. We present our experience with such a problem, and review the current literature concerning it.

A cleft sternum is a rare congenital anomaly often diagnosed as asymptomatic at birth. Clinical outcome may be unfavorable when an associated anomaly, particularly an intracardiac anomaly coexists with the defect. Primary repair should be employed in the neonatal period because the flexibility of the chest wall is maximal and compression of underlying structures is minimal. However, patients wi...

We report a case of sternal reconstruction using bilateral sternal bar turnover flaps in a 4-year-old boy with an inferior sternal cleft, as part of Cantrell's pentad. When the patient was 10 months old, he underwent sternal reconstruction using a resorbable poly-L-lactic-polyglycolic acid plate in the first stage when there was insufficient autogenous tissue to provide a reliable reconstructio...