Omphalocele in Siblings

Abstract
True omphalocele may best be described as a herniation of abdominal viscera through the umbilicus, in which the sac is composed only of a clear, thin membrane. O'Leary and Clymer1 summarized several reports of collected cases and concluded that the incidence is approximately 1 in 3,500 births. Their review of the literature indicated that omphalocele is twice as common among males. Although most authors believe that there is little tendency toward a familial incidence of this anomaly, several reports of true omphalocele among siblings have been uncovered. Paucot and Gellé2 in 1936 recorded three successive stillborn fetuses of a syphilitic mother, who had large omphaloceles. McKeown, MacMahon, and Record3 found one instance of omphalocele among siblings in a study of 62 families in which this condition existed. A thorough search of the literature would indicate that the patients reported herein are the only ones in which large