Woman lived to 99 with most organs on wrong side of body

SALEM, Ore. >> Rose Marie Bentley was an avid swimmer, raised five kids, helped her husband run a feed store, and lived to the ripe age of 99. It was only after she died that medical students discovered that all her internal organs — except for her heart — were in the wrong place.

The discovery of the rare condition, which was presented this week to a conference of anatomists, was astounding — especially because Bentley had lived so long. People with the condition known as situs inversus with levocardia often have life-threatening cardiac ailments and other abnormalities, according to Oregon Health & Science University.

Cameron Walker’s class at the university in Portland was examining the heart of a cadaver last year when they noticed the blood vessels were different. When they opened the abdominal cavity, they saw that all the other organs were on the wrong side. The unusual blood vessels helped the heart compensate.

In a telephone interview last month, Walker described his reaction to the find as “definitely a mix of curiosity, fascination and a sense of wanting to explore a little bit of a medical mystery — a medical marvel really — that was in front of us.”

“And I would say the students felt something very similar,” Walker, an assistant professor of anatomy, told The Associated Press.

Bentley’s family had not known about the condition, which OHSU says occurs only once in every 22,000 births. Apparently Bentley didn’t either.

Bentley, who lived in Molalla, 25 miles south of Portland, had led a normal life.

Her only recurrent physical complaint was arthritis, her daughter Louise Allee remembered.

But there were signs.

When Bentley was in her 50s, she underwent a hysterectomy, and the doctor also wanted to remove the appendix but couldn’t find it, Allee said in a phone interview.

She said it was removed later. Oregon Health & Science University noted that Bentley had three organs removed during her life, but only the surgeon who removed her appendix recorded its unusual location.

Walker expressed his gratitude for Bentley agreeing to donate her body to OHSU, Oregon’s only academic health center.

Allee said her mother would have been delighted that the donation of her body led to a learning experience.