Vanishing gut in infants with gastroschisis

Infants born with gastroschisis (GS) in association with intestinal atresia are well described, however, atresia to the extent where none or very litt le of the midgut remains has rarely been reported. In this paper we present one infant born with a GS defect in combination with total loss of the mid gut and another with a tight GS defect with atresia of the proximal and dis tal midgut at the regions where the bowel had gone through the abdominal wa ll. On examining these and other case reports in the literature, we realise d that there is a GS spectrum, at one end with simple, localised atresia wi th the rest of the gut exhibiting minimal vascular compromise and at the ot her a very small or no defect with absence of the entire midgut.