When a newborn enters the world and takes its first breath, the foramen ovale closes, and within a few months it has sealed completely in about 75 percent of us. This hole allows blood to bypass the fetal lungs, which cannot work until they are exposed to air. The foramen ovale is a hole in the wall between the left and right atria of every human fetus. PFOs, on the other hand, can only occur after birth when the foramen ovale fails to close. The larger the hole, the more likely there are to be symptoms. Generally an ASD hole is larger than that of a PFO. An ASD is a failure of the septal tissue to form between the atria, and as such it is considered a congenital heart defect, something that you are born with. Although both are holes in the wall of tissue (septum) between the left and right upper chambers of the heart (atria), their causes are quite different. One is called an atrial septal defect (ASD), and the other is a patent foramen ovale (PFO). There are two kinds of holes in the heart. In fact, the vast majority of those affected don't even know it. National Hypertension Control InitiativeĪdapted from "Holes in the Heart," Stroke Connection Magazine, January/February 2011Ī hole in your heart would seem to be the very definition of a "problem." Yet more than a quarter of the population has one, and for most it causes no adverse health effects.Pets and Your Health / Healthy Bond for Life.
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