Indian man's internal organs all back-to-front

An Indian man has ben told by doctors that all his internal organs are back-to-front in what is thought to be the only living case of "situs inversus".

By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Published: 1:58PM GMT 09 Feb 2010

Doctors believe that the 64-year-old could be the only man in the world whose internal organs are in the mirror opposite position of where they should be.

Ashok Shivnani was about to have surgery to remove a tumour on his kidney in Mumbai when doctors realised most of his chest and abdominal organs and many blood vessels were on the opposite side of his body.

The condition is known as "situs inversus".

In Mr Shivnani's case, they discovered the aorta and inferior vena cava, which pump clean blood in and impure blood from the heart were reversed. He also has two livers.

"While operating we were supposed to know the exact location of everything that we are going to touch. But in this case we were not sure which veins were entering where," Dr Prakash Sanzgiri told the Times of India.

Surgeons also found he had no small intestine and three vessels supplying blood to his infected kidney.

More surprising is the fact that Mr Shivnani had survived two hernia operations and been examined for chronic lung disease without learning of his unique anatomy. "Never in my life did I know that my body was different," he said.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7196993/Indian-mans-internal-organs-all-back-to-front.html