The cecum under the Ribs, the twisted stomach: “Germany’s next top model”contestant Stefanie Giesinger has the Kartagener syndrome. Why this disease is so dangerous and what can help.
One of the candidates of 'Germany's next Topmodel', Stefanie Giesinger, has an extremely rare, life-threatening disease, the so-called Kartagener syndrome. As a child, she had to vomit again and again, many suspect you to have bulimia. At the age of 13, she had a total collapse. In the hospital the Doctors found that The cecum was below the Ribs, and the stomach was so twisted, that the food could not pass through it. A multi-hour surgery saved Stefanie’s life.
The heart on the right, the liver on the left – Situs inversus
The Kartagener syndrome is very rare, in Germany, only about 4000 patients live. This is a hereditary disease, which is associated with twisted and mirror-image reversed organs. So, for example, the heart may be in the right instead of the left side of the chest, medically Situs inversus, which means “twisted”. The health consequences? “We have children whose organs are all reversed,” says Joseph Kahl, a spokesman for the Committee for the prevention and early therapy of the professional Association of child and youth doctors (BVKJ). Health consequences of the side not operated institutions for you.
The position of the bodies does not change after birth
The situation is different in cases such as Stefanie Giesinger, whose bodies are twisted. In your case, surgery Doctors the stomach so that he could return to work as normal, otherwise the girl would have died probably. The position of the organs is corrected, is likely to later result in deterioration. “The bodies change then your situation is actually impossible,” – emphasizes the expert. Because the changes were congenital. Problems could only arise due to the surgery itself, so to speak, as a side effect. “Strong scarring could possible lead again to a closure,” says Kahl.
Men with Kartagener’s syndrome are often infertile
An additional effect of the Kartagener syndrome, by the way, for the men involved. You can often father a child. The disease reduces the mobility of the seeds.
Kartagener’s syndrome is often associated with chronic Sinusitis
The genetic disorder is so rare because both parents must have the gene mutation, then the child is affected. Medically, the autosomal is called recessive pattern of inheritance. The term Kartagener’s syndrome comes from the Austrian internist Manes Kartagener (1897 to 1975), described the disease as the first. Often the Kartagener syndrome is associated with a congenital chronic sinusitis and Bronchitis, the so-called Primary Ciliären Dyskenesie. This is a Defect of the cilia. You can remove the mucus from the respiratory tract is not right, similarly as in the hereditary disease cystic fibrosis. The consequence of this is that the body thickened secretions in the respiratory tract and of the pancreas is extremely and tough.