Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Pediatr. Dec 9, 2023; 12(5): 359-364
Published online Dec 9, 2023. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v12.i5.359
Situs inversus totalis in an asymptomatic adolescent - importance of patient education: A case report
Lauren C. Hayashi, Ratna Acharya
Lauren C. Hayashi, Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32608, United States
Ratna Acharya, Division of General Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32608, United States
Author contributions: Hayashi LC and Acharya R were involved in the acquisition of the clinical data, analysis, writing, interpretation and revision.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from the parent of the patient by Dr. Acharya for publication of the information.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Both authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lauren C. Hayashi, MS, Researcher, Department of Pediatrics, University of Florida College of Medicine, No. 1104 Newell Drive, Gainesville, FL 32608, United States. lauren.hayashi@ufl.edu
Received: June 6, 2023
Peer-review started: June 6, 2023
First decision: August 30, 2023
Revised: September 9, 2023
Accepted: September 26, 2023
Article in press: September 26, 2023
Published online: December 9, 2023
Core Tip

Core Tip: Situs inversus totalis (SIT) is a rare and mostly asymptomatic condition. This care report describes a previously-diagnosed seventeen-year-old adolescent who presented for a routine healthcare visit. During history taking, he denied any past medical conditions, including cardiovascular issues, until physical exam showed heart sounds on the right. He then revealed that he had been diagnosed with SIT incidentally at age 12, but did not realize that it is a significant condition. Patients with SIT may not understand the importance of the diagnosis and its potential ramifications. Healthcare workers must recognize that this lack of understanding of their diagnosis exists and educate them. Our patient was counseled that his diagnosis, although asymptomatic, should be relayed to healthcare teams.