Body stalk defects, body wall defects, amniotic bands with and without body wall defects, and gastroschisis: comparative epidemiology.

The presence of body wall defects with "evisceration" of thoracic and/or abdominal organs associated with other congenital anomalies, with or without limb deficiencies, is considered to be the body wall complex (BWC). The BWC is different from gastroschisis, which is usually a small body wall defect lateral to the umbilical cord that is not covered by any membrane and, in most of the cases, is an isolated defect. For the present analysis we separated the BWC group into three subgroups. One group was that of body stalk anomalies characterized by severe defects of the abdominal wall with absence of, or very small, umbilical cord, or this is continuing with the placenta. The second group was made up of those infants with body wall defects without amniotic bands, and the third group was of those children with body wall defects produced by amniotic bands. We considered two additional groups in the analysis, one was of infants with gastroschisis and the other those infants with amniotic bands without body wall affectation. We also included the control group (nonmalformed infants) for comparisons. From the results of our epidemiological study, we can conclude that amniotic bands with body wall affectation and amniotic bands without body wall defects are two different entities. The results also suggest that the characteristics of infants with amniotic bands with body wall defects are more similar to the group of infants with body stalk anomalies. This may indicate that the former group is produced during the very early gestation.