She was born with a heart outside her body

Girl Audrina Cardenas, from Houston (USA), has extremely rare ectopia cordis syndrome, causing her heart to grow outside her body. The incidence of this disease is 8/8 million people and 90% of cases live only a few days after birth.

However, the girl Audrina was fortunate to be rescued after undergoing a complicated surgery lasting hours at the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, USA. Currently, she is recovering quite quickly.

Picture 1 of She was born with a heart outside her body
Audrina has recovered from surgery to bring her heart back to her body.

Audrina's mother, Ashley Cardenas, discovered her daughter had ectopia cordis syndrome during her 16-week-old pregnancy test. Ashley said she had three choices at the time: Abortion, continued pregnancy and knowing that the child could die immediately after birth or let the doctor open a hole in the fetal chest to make room for the heart to develop development.

After that, Ashley chose the third option. But it was an extremely difficult decision, she said: 'You will never know the feeling of having to make that decision until you face it. '.

Picture 2 of She was born with a heart outside her body
The heart is outside Audrina's body.

Although Audrina's health is recovering, surgeons say she needs to undergo many more surgeries in the coming years to help her heart work properly. In addition, she needs regular cardiovascular examination throughout her life.

Dr. Carolyn Altman, a cardiologist at Taxas Hospital, said on the Daily Mail: 'Although Audrina's heart developed in the wrong position, but she was born without other mutations of the gene, possibly adding pressure to her heart '.