• Question: In a programe i watched it said someone had a hole in there heart. Is this true ? And can you die ?

    Asked by 11molliehaines to Christina, Colin, Jess, Samaneh, Steve on 19 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Jess Bean

      Jess Bean answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      It’s true that sometimes people are born with holes in their heart, where their heart has not formed properly. This means that when the heart beats blood leaks between blood coming from the lungs with lots of oxygen, and blood from the body with less oxygen. This is a lot of stress for the heart as it has to work harder than normal to push blood around your body.

      It’s very dangerous to leave things like this, so normally doctors try to repair the hole as soon as they can. In the past few years the detection and treatment of holes in the heart has got amazingly good.

    • Photo: Christina Pagel

      Christina Pagel answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      Hi mollie,

      Yes holes in the heart are actually not that rare (about 1 in 100 babies are born with some sort of heart defect) but the good news is that they are treatable and, with a simple hole in the heart, over 99% of babies survive and go on to lead normal lives….

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