“Mirror Mirror on the Wall” Situs Inversus Totalis and Alpha Thalassemia in a 51 year old female: A Case Report
Eunice DE VERA
Being at the vanguard of primary care and taking a holistic approach to medicine put family physicians in a unique position to diagnose, manage and collaborate with other specialties to provide care for patients with rare diseases.This is the case of MR, a 51 year old female from the Philippines who presented with a chief complaint of dizziness. Examination revealed distinct heart sounds on the right side of her chest, raising suspicion for Dextrocardia, which was confirmed by chest xray. Plain abdominal X-ray and an abdominal ultrasound revealed situs inversus totalis. CBC, peripheral blood smear, serum ferritin and hemoglobin electrophoresis showed alpha thalassemia trait. The patient had no prior history of medical consultations, hospital admissions, or surgeries and had delivered her children through non-institutional means, which likely contributed to the late diagnosis of her congenital conditions.Alpha-thalassemia is caused by the reduced or absent production of the alpha globin chains. Dextrocardia is characterized by the heart being located on the right side of the chest. In situs inversus, the organs are arranged in a mirror image. When dextrocardia occurs with situs inversus, it is called situs inversus totalis (SIT), a rare condition affecting about 1 in 20,000 individuals. There has been no reported case of situs inversus totalis associated with alpha thalassemia (Chen, 2020).This case report aims to describe the incidental finding of situs inversus totalis in a patient presenting with dizziness and consulted at a medical facility for the first time. The patient did not have pertinent medical history which contributed to the late diagnosis of her rare conditions.A study by Chen, et. al in 2020 described the comorbidities diagnosed with SIT where the most common comorbidity noted was congenital heart disease. Rodrigues et al. in 2020 described a case report where a newborn was diagnosed with SIT and Sickle Cell Anemia. There were no recorded incidence of SIT associated with Alpha Thalassemia.It is important that doctors encourage routine medical examination for their patients. A holistic approach is beneficial especially in primary care where primary care physicians are the first point of contact of patients.
