The confused identity of Cantrell's pentad: ectopia cordis is related either to thoracoschisis or to a diaphragmatic hernia with an omphalocele.

To find out if Cantrell's pentad is a single entity, four cases of ectopia cordis were studied and compared with cases in the literature. Our cases had the heart outside the thorax and had two to four other features of the association. In one case the thoracic organs had apparently escaped through a diaphragmatic hernia into an omphalocele, and in the others via a thoracoschisis with an abdominal defect, either a supraumbilical hernia or a gastroschisis. According to these cases and those from the literature, it is proposed that there are two major mechanisms leading to ectopia cordis: (1) a reversed diaphragmatic hernia in the case of a large diaphragmatic defect and an omphalocele, and (2) through a sterno-costal defect, with gastroschisis or a supraumbililical abdominal defect. As omphaloceles and major diaphragmatic defects are probably pathogenetically distinct from thoraco- and thoracogastroschisis, it is important to distinguish these groups of anomalies, rather than be concerned as to their relationship with Cantrell's pentad.