Situs solitus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Situs solitus (Latin for "customary position") refers to a normal pattern of lateral asymmetry in the human. Anatomically, this means that the heart is on the left with the systemic atrium on the right and the pulmonary atrium on the left along with the cardiac apex. Right-sided organs are the liver, the gall bladder, a trilobed lung, and inferior vena cava, while left-sided organs are the stomach, single spleen, a bilobed lung, and the aorta.
Variants on this normal picture are relatively uncommon. Complete reversal of all organs, or mirroring of the situs solitus arrangement, is known as situs inversus, while reversal of some organs but not others is called situs ambiguus or heterotaxy. Isolated reversal of the heart with normally-patterned viscera otherwise is termed dextrocardia.
