A Case of Persistent Cloaca Diagnosed by Prenatal Sonography.

Kim, Ki Hwan; Oh, Kwan Young; Cho, Yong Hun; Lee, Jae Cheon; Lee, Byung Kwan; Rho, Jeong Hoon; Hwang, In Taek; Yang, Yoon Seok; Park, Joon Suk

Case Report

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 2004;47(8):1577-1581.
Published online August 1, 2004.

A Case of Persistent Cloaca Diagnosed by Prenatal Sonography.

Ki Hwan Kim, Kwan Young Oh, Yong Hun Cho, Jae Cheon Lee, Byung Kwan Lee, Jeong Hoon Rho, In Taek Hwang, Yoon Seok Yang, Joon Suk Park

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Eulji University Hospital, Daejeon, Korea.

Abstract

Persistent cloaca is a very rare congenital anomaly with a single common perineal opening for the genital urinary and gastrointestinal tract, which is caused by abnormal formation of the urorectal septum. It has an incidence of 1 in 50,000 to 1 in 125,000 births and is much more common in females and in twin pregnancies. Pathologic findings of persistent cloaca include dilated bowel, hydrocolpos, urethral obstruction, hydronephrosis and oligohydramnios caused by obstruction of the bladder, vagina and intestine. Failure of the paired m llerian ducts to fuse also usually results in duplication of the uterus and vagina. Currently, the diagnosis depends on the prenatal sonography but the diagnosis may be very difficult due to the complex nature of the anomaly and variable appearances. We present a case of persistent cloaca with one opening confirmed by autopsy after therapeutic termination which was initially diagnosed by prenatal sonography.

Key Words: One opening, Persistent cloaca