Cloaca of the Bladder

Cloaca
Click on Image to Enlarge it

Cloaca

•The dilated sac-like structure in the center of the photograph is a persistent cloaca. There has been failure in early fetal life of the urorectal septum to divide the rectum from the urogenital sinus.
•Entering the cloaca are the colon, the right ureter and the left ureter (there was left renal agenesis). The cloaca served as rectum and bladder. The infant had no anus.
•The only outlet was a thin narrow urethra.

(Description By:H. Yamase, M.D. )

(Image Contrib. by: UCHC )

Persistent Cloaca

Etiology

•Unknown.

Pathogenesis

•The abnormality results from failure of the urorectal septum to separate the primitive urogenital sinus from the hindgut.,

Epidemiology

•Developmental disorder detected prenatally or at birth.

General Gross Description

•The diagnosis rests on the gross demonstration of a common structure serving as bladder and rectum.

General Microscopic Description

•Not applicable.

Clinical Correlation

•Associated anomalies may include imperforate anus, abscence of genital and urinary orifices, megacolon, megaureters, renal dysplasia, renal agenesis.

References

•Textbook of Fetal and Perinatal Pathology. Wigglesworth JS and Singer DB (eds) Cambridge: Blackwell, 1989, pp. 1163-4.
•Langman's Medical Embryology, 6th edition. 1990. Sadler TW. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins. pp. 75, 255, 268.

Persistent Cloaca

Synopsis by: Harold Yamase M.D. (T74000M20000)[480]

Search Medline at National Library of Medicine
Please be patient during transfer. Medline will open in a new window. To return, close the Medline Window

Search Frames

Search No frames

PathWeb Home

Feed Back

About