The PFO and the Heart
Summary
Everyone is born with foramen ovale, a flap between the left and the right of the heart. It usually closes up soon after birth. However, in one out of every four human beings, the flap doesn’t close, causing it to become a patent foramen ovale (PFO). Sleep apnea happens when your upper airways collapse while you sleep and you stop breathing for ten or more seconds. In people who have sleep apnea, if they have a PFO the pressure build-up from the struggle to breathe can force the PFO open.
When the PFO opens up it can lead to oxygen desaturation, where you blood-oxygen concentration falls a lot very fast. When desaturation occurs it can lead to cardiovascular disease.
Studies have shown that closing the PFO helps reduce migraines. They think that closing the PFO might help reduce desaturation. This however, is not the only treatment. There is another treatment called continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). This is when a face mask is worn to bed and it pumps air into your lungs. It stops you air way from collapsing, which reduces apnea. This isn’t popular because it is uncomfortable and people don’t like wearing the masks when they sleep.
It is important to treat the PFO, whether by closing it or CPAP. If you don’t treat it, specifically in apnea patients, it can lead to severe problems.
There has also been a study to show the relationship between the PFO and high-altitude pulmonary edema. This is occurs when you are a mountain climber and you go into areas where the air is thinner. The blood pressure increases in you lungs to make up for the lowering blood-oxygen concentration. This causes fluid to develop in your lungs.
It is more common for people who have a PFO to experience high-altitude pulmonary edema. It is unknown whether or no closing the PFO will reduce cases of high-altitude pulmonary edema.
They are now performing tests to see whether or not divers should worry about PFO’s.
My Opinion
This article impacted me for several reasons. It impacted me because I never thought about how something in your heart could effect how you sleep and that it could cause you to have migraines. Another reason this article impacted me is because of the overwhelming number of people that have PFO. It is astonishing to me that one forth of every human being has PFO and never knows about it. It is also interesting that a little hole in your heart can effect your blood-oxygen concentration, which is important because it can cause strokes and makes you have difficulties if you have sleep apnea.
https://createpdf.adobe.com/cgi-pickup.pl/HEART.pdf?BP=IE&LOC=en_US&CUS=96eac199fb42b3f907cc12121056ca5a&CDS=471104B5-71AE-288564
This is actually Adam Honeycutt's post, I couldn't log on under my name so instead of just not doing this or waiting for Mrs. Forgrave to find in the email I sent her on Monday morning, Ashley is letting me use her name to post.
posted by Ashley @ 5:23 PM
3 Comments:
I thought this was interesting because there are so many little things that can go wrong in your heart it is amazing that it doesn't happen more often. And it is strange to see what one little thing can cause so many different problems and make so many different problems worse.
I found this article interesting because it shows how a small, common, and seemingly insignificant heart condition can lead to trouble breathing, blood desaturation (I think that's what it's called!), stroke, heart disease, and even migraines. This shows the interdependancy of all the parts of our body. I also found it very interesting that one out of four people have this heart condition, which seems like a high percentage of people.
I agree with these comments. I was shocked when I read the fact that one out of every four human being has this condition, that is a large amount of the population! And the fact that everyone is born with it, raises the question to me, of why so many people's foramen ovale doesn't close. Another point I found interesting was the fact that, what seems to be a small flap is acctually a huge problem. It causes alot of problems with the rest of the body. This truly shows how ridiculously important our heart is!
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