Successful Vaginal Delivery of a Pregnant Woman with Cantrell's Pentalogy

Cantrell's Pentalogy is a rare condition that consists of defects involving the abdominal wall, lower sternum, anterior diaphragm, pericardium, and heart. In the literature to date, pregnant women with Cantrell's Pentalogy have not been discussed. We performed successful vaginal delivery of a 23-yr-old nulliparous, primigravid woman who had been diagnosed with this condition. Diagnosis was based on cardiac catheterization, angiography, and echocardiogram, and abdominopelvic CT. Vaginal delivery may be an option for women with Cantrell's Pentalogy and may be attempted with caution

Hedgehog Signaling in Gastrointestinal Morphogenesis and Morphostasis

The mechanisms that orchestrate the development of a multicellular organism from a single common ancestor cell have fascinated people for centuries. We are still a long way from truly understanding the robust programs that allow building of our specialized organs that regulate digestion, respiration, and hemodynamics and that guard us from invasion by other unsolicited organisms. However, in the past three decades, many of the genes that play a role in patterning our bodies have been identified. We have learned much about the mechanisms involved in development by characterizing the nature of these patterning genes and the way they work together. In this chapter, we will discuss patterning mechanisms, introduce the Hedgehog pathway and then summarize our current understanding of the role of Hedgehog signaling in development and maintenance of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract