Is umbilical cord ulcer associated with congenital upper intestinal atresia so rare? Japanese case series and review of the literature.

摘要

The association between umbilical cord ulcer (UCU) and fetal duodenal or je-junal atresia has previously been reported in this journal by Kimuraet al. [1] and Mi-yake et al. [2]. Only 7 cases of this association have been reported in countries other than Japan [3-7]. In contrast, in Japan, the reported number of cases has continued to rise since the first report from our institution in 1996 [8, 9]. As of March 2010, 48 cases have been reported in Japan, including 13 cases from our institution (we include recent unpublished examples) [1, 2, 9-14]. Outcome is described in 54 of the 55 cases reported worldwide: 22 patients (40%) suffered intrauterine demise or died after birth, while 32 lived, of whom 6 had severe sequelae.