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The article states that situs inversus sufferers "invariably" have severe heart defects, and generally gives a pretty bleak outlook for the condition. And yet this woman made it to 99, without diagnosis, despite several surgeries.

I wonder if anyone has done a statistical analysis to find the true number of undiagnosed cases, because it would seem to be very high.

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They explain the likely reason:

> But Bentley was an anomaly, one of the few born with the condition that didn't have heart defects, Walker said. "That is almost certainly the factor that contributed most to her long life," he said.

Which means that they shouldn't have used the word 'invariably'.

I'm also not keen on their use of the word 'survivor' in the same paragraph.

I agree based on anecdata. Once every year or two (most recently in February) I encounter it. It isn’t always known about and in the recent case the patient had had ultrasounds of the abdomen previously. I do MRI scans, but have worked in a cardiac centre which might distort things (though NZ’s population is only 4-5 million).

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