Chapter 20, Problem 20.5.3AYLO

Summary Introduction

To analyze:

The changes in cardiac anatomy and blood flow at birth.

Introduction:

Before birth, the heart has a little point from which all the blood is pumped through the lungs of the fetus. There the fetal lungs receive enough blood for metabolic and development needs. but most of the blood bypasses the pulmonary circuit by two anatomical shortcuts in and near the heart of the fetus. These are the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus. Therefore, most of the blood that the right ventricles pump into the pulmonary trunk use this bypass to enter directly into the aorta. But, at birth sudden changes in pressure gradients occurs which leads to changes in the cardiac anatomy and blood flow.