engleski

Case report: Holocardius acephalus in a kid goat

The authors describe a case of holocardius acephalus, acardiac terata in a goat kid. It is a headless monster of unknown etiology, which lacks thoracic cavity with its organs. This acardiac terata develops as a parasite on a healthy twin in monozygotic twin pregnancies. The authors assumed that this terata was a case of chorioamniopagus, a finding where the twins share the same placenta. The terata was underdeveloped, just 30 cm long and about 15 cm wide in its widest part. It was skin- and hair-covered, composed of pelvis and rear limbs. An X-ray examination revealed well developed pelvic and hind legs bones and underdeveloped sacral bone. The absence of head, thoracic and abdominal cavity, including lungs, heart, liver and spleen were discovered at necropsy. The patohistological examination confirmed existence of some organs in pelvic cavity, namely stomach, intestines, kidney and bladder. The stomach and intestines from one side, and kidney with bladder from the other merge into unique tube connected with umbilical cord. The sexual organs were absent but a semblance of 5 mm long bud like projection at the pubic region was present. It looked like a base for copulative organ, but it was not possible to distinguish it. PCR and electrophoresis showed that this monster was sexually differentiated as a female.

goat; kid; monster; holocardius acephalus; chorioamniopagus

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