Abdominal wall and umbilical disorders — structured clinical encounter

Station 1 — recognition and the distinguishing features

Asked for my first impression, I explain that a newborn with bare, uncovered bowel protruding through a defect to the right of a normally inserted umbilical cord, with no covering membrane, has gastroschisis. I would distinguish it from an omphalocele, in which the defect is midline, the contents are covered by a translucent sac, and the cord inserts onto the sac. This distinction is critical because the omphalocele carries chromosomal and cardiac associations that gastroschisis does not. ^{[3] [1]}