title: Sternal cleft--a natural absurdity or a surgical opportunity.
abstract: Sternal cleft is a rare visually dramatic congenital anomaly. It results from failure of fusion of the 2 lateral mesodermal sternal bars by the 8 weeks of gestation. Superior clefts are more frequent than inferior ones, and isolated central clefts are extremely rare. We describe the case of a 4-year-old girl with a central sternal cleft that was closed autogenously with pectoralis major advancement flaps.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160012, India. suviteshluthra@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Suvitesh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Luthra
authors.forename: Rajinder Singh
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Dhaliwal
authors.forename: Harkant
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005660:Funnel Chest; D006801:Humans; D010369:Pectoralis Muscles / Q000601:surgery*; D010496:Pericardium / Q000002:abnormalities; D013249:Sternum / Q000002:abnormalities*; D013524:Surgical Flaps; D019616:Thoracic Surgical Procedures