• Question: Is everybody born with a hole in there heart?

    Asked by cookie448 to Cristina on 10 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Cristina Villa del Campo

      Cristina Villa del Campo answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      Hi cookie,

      I think you might be talking about a hole between both ventricles. Am I right? We call this Ventricular septal defect. When this happens blood with oxygen and blood with CO2 are mixed in the heart. This can happen sometimes and in some cases it will require surgery. The reason it happens is because when the heart is forming at the beginning both ventricles are connected, they are like one and then the wall in between them grows and separates them. If the wall doesn’t grow until the very end sometimes a little hole remains and you are born with a hole in your heart. In many cases even if you are born with it the hole closes on its own as you grow.
      Hope I answered your question.

Comments