Sirenomelia-the mermaid syndrome: a rare invariably fatal congenital anomaly in a term unsupervised pregnancy

Sirenomelia is a rare congenital anomaly with an incidence of 0.8 to 1 case per 1,00,000 births. The prognosis is grim due to associated genitourinary and gastrointestinal anomalies. Antenatal registration in the first trimester and timely ultrasound go a long way in detection of the anamoly when termination can be still be offered and the mental agony of giving birth to a term neonate with a fatal congenital anomaly can be avoided.