Body stalk anomaly

Body stalk anomaly is a severe body wall defect characterised by an absent or rudimentary umbilical cord, eventration of abdominal viscera, hindgut anomalies and severe skeletal deformities (1,2,3). It is a rare sporadic condition with an incidence of 0.07% in live bom infants (1). Body stalk anomaly was seen in two neonates born at term, who died within one hour of birth. One was a spon t aneous vagina l de l ivery , the o ther was de l ivered by emergency caesarian sect ion. Prenatal sonography had not been d o n e in b o t h . T h e in fan t s had a b s e n c e of u n b i l i c a l c o r d , e v e n t r a t i o n of l i ve r and i n t e s t i n e s , kyphoscoliosis, talipes equinovarus, imperforate anus and hypop las t i c lungs , and were d i rec t ly adheren t to the p lacenta by the i r a b d o m i n a l wal ls (F igure ) . One had h y p o p l a s t i c left h e a r t s y n d r o m e and a c y s t i c r igh t kidney. The other had indeterminate external genitalia with bilateral streak gonads.