Pilot study of congenital anomaly rates at birth in fallujah, iraq, 2010.

Objectives: To examine numbers of congenital anomaly (CA) at birth overall and by class in one clinic in Fallujah General Hospital, Fallujah, Iraq.

Study Design: All congenital anomaly birth referrals to one pediatric clinician at Fallujah General Hospital for an eleven month period beginning November 1, 2009 were recorded. This clinic was one of three clinics to which cases would be referred.

Report of three cases of unusual anterior abdominal wall defects in fallujah general hospital during the year 2010.

Abdominal wall defects occur when the normal sequence of the gastro intestinal tract development is interrupted. Gastroschisis represents a herniation of abdominal contents through a paramedian full-thickness abdominal wall fusion defect without involving the umbilical cord. Evisceration usually only contains intestinal loops and has no surrounding membrane unlike omphalocoele.

Uranium and other contaminants in hair from the parents of children with congenital anomalies in Fallujah, Iraq.

Background: Recent reports have drawn attention to increases in congenital birth anomalies and cancer in Fallujah Iraq blamed on teratogenic, genetic and genomic stress thought to result from depleted Uranium contamination following the battles in the town in 2004. Contamination of the parents of the children and of the environment by Uranium and other elements was investigated using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Hair samples from 25 fathers and mothers of children diagnosed with congenital anomalies were analysed for Uranium and 51 other elements.

Four polygamous families with congenital birth defects from Fallujah, Iraq.

Since 2003, congenital malformations have increased to account for 15% of all births in Fallujah, Iraq. Congenital heart defects have the highest incidence, followed by neural tube defects. Similar birth defects were reported in other populations exposed to war contaminants.