| • The dilated sac-like structure in the center of the
photograph is a persistent cloaca. There has been
failure in early fetal life of the urorectal septum
to divide the rectum from the urogenital sinus.
• Entering the cloaca are the colon, the right
ureter and the left ureter (there was left renal
agenesis). The cloaca served as rectum and bladder.
The infant had no anus.
• The only outlet was a thin narrow urethra. |
| Persistent Cloaca |
| Etiology |
•Unknown. |
| Pathogenesis |
•The abnormality results from failure of the urorectal septum to separate the primitive urogenital sinus from the hindgut. |
| Epidemiology |
•Developmental disorder detected prenatally or at birth. |
| Clinical |
•Associated anomalies may include imperforate anus, abscence of genital and urinary orifices, megacolon, megaureters, renal dysplasia, renal agenesis. |
| General Gross Description |
•The diagnosis rests on the gross demonstration of a common structure serving as bladder and rectum. |
| General Micro Description |
•Not applicable. |
| Reference |
•Textbook of Fetal and Perinatal Pathology. Wigglesworth JS and Singer DB (eds) Cambridge: Blackwell, 1989, pp. 1163-4. •Langman^s Medical Embryology, 6th edition. 1990. Sadler TW. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins. pp. 75, 255, 268.
|
