The anomalies which will be subsequently described were found in the cadaver of a female dwarf whose past and family histories were unknown. The cadaver was one of those to be dissected in 1976 for student education. The weight and the height of the cadaver were 23.0kg and 123.5cm, respectively.
(1) Anomalies in the genital organs.
The vestibulum vaginae was completely closed except for a small cleft of 0, 65cm in length in which there was the ostium urethrae externum just below the clitoris. This finding is compatible with one of the types of “adhesion of the labia minora” classified by Capraro (1972). The median incision of the closed portion exposed all of the vestibulum vaginae. The ostium vaginae was extremely small and only 0.2cm in length. The hymen was thin, double-folded and semilunar in shape. The location and the shape of the clitoris and the bulbus vestibuli were normal, but they were smaller in size. The shape and the size of the uterus and the vagina were extremely anomalous (Photo 4) The tuba uterina was normal, but the ovarium was extremely thin, only O.2 cm in thickness. The histological examination of the adhered portion revealed that the outer surface was covered with the normal cutaneous tissue while the inner surface with the stratified squamous epithelium. Neither in the tela subcutanea nor in the tela submucosa, there was scar tissue. The Gl. uterina and the folliculus ovaricus and secundarius were rarely present.
(2) Anomaly in the site of origin of the A. subclavia dextra.
The arcus aortae was normal. The A. carotis cummunis dextra and sinistra did not form a common trunk, i.e., the so-called truncus bicaroticus. Each arose directly from the arcus aortae, but their sites of origin were close to each other.
The A. subclavia sinistra arose from a site which was 1 cm apart from the site of origin of the A. carotis communis sinistra.
The A. subclavia dextra originated from a site 1 cm below the site of origin of the A. subclavia sinistra, at the level of the third vertebrae thoracicae, and ran behind the trachea and the esophagus toward the upper limb, and gave off the A. vertebralis dextra at the level of the articulatio capitis costae I.
Since the N. laryngeus recurrens dextra did not exist, the N. laryngeus inferior branched off directly from the N. vagus.
It is generally considered possible that in some cases the adhesion of the labia minora is caused by the inflammatory process occurring therein. We are, however, inclined to ascribe the adhesion in the present case to some congenital cause, inasmuch as (1) no scar tissue was found in the adhered portion;(2) there was “Dysgenitalismus”;(3) the cadaver was a dwarf; and (4) there was an anomaly in the site of origin of the A. subclavia dextra.