Medical Cover

Alex Baker's latest cover for Contemporary OB/GYN features the condition gastroschisis, the image illustrates what happens when the midgut of the baby develops outside of her body. When the baby is born, they use a silo to return the intestines to the inside and to slowly stretch out the abdominal wall. (They can't immediately operate and fix it because the baby's abdominal wall doesn't develops with enough potential volume to hold that extra intestine.) It's important to catch and diagnose this early by ultrasound because there is another condition that presents similarly called omphalocele, but has a completely different treatment and different implications for the baby's health.