Heart-stopping

• Autores: Liz Bestic
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2940, 2013, págs. 42-45
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Some people had a hole in the wall that separates the heart's two upper chambers. It turns out to be a relic from one's time in the womb, when the blood circulation follows a different route. In adults, the right side of the heart sends blood to the lungs, where it picks up oxygen, and the left side sends the oxygenated blood to all the other organs in the body. But an unborn baby doesn't use its lungs to breathe, getting all the oxygen it needs through the placenta. So the fetal heart has an opening between the right and left upper chambers, known as the foramen ovale, to bypass the lungs. When a baby is born and takes its first gasp of air, a flap closes over the hole--at least in most people. For about 1 in 4 people, the hole stays open, either all the time or, more commonly, it gapes open when pressure rises in the chest. Here, Bestic examines the benefits and risks of operating the hole in the heart.