Fossa ovalis (heart)

Fossa ovalis
Heart viewed from the front, with right atrium and right ventricle opened. Fossa ovalis is labeled in the right atrium.
Details
Precursor	Foramen ovale
Identifiers
Latin	Fossa ovalis cordis
Dorlands /Elsevier	f_14/12376455
TA	A12.1.01.005
FMA	9246
Anatomical terminology []

The fossa ovalis is a depression in the right atrium of the heart, at the level of the interatrial septum, the wall between right and left atrium. The fossa ovalis is the remnant of a thin fibrous sheet that covered the foramen ovale during fetal development.

During fetal development, the foramen ovale allows blood to pass from the right atrium to the left atrium, bypassing the nonfunctional fetal lungs while the fetus obtains its oxygen from the placenta. A flap of tissue called the septum primum acts as a valve over the foramen ovale during that time. After birth, the introduction of air into the lungs causes the pressure in the pulmonary circulatory system to drop. This change in pressure pushes the septum primum against the atrial septum, closing the foramen. The septum primum and atrial septum eventually fuse together to form a complete seal, leaving a depression called the fossa ovalis. By age two, about 75% of people have a completely sealed fossa ovalis. An unfused fossa ovalis is called a patent foramen ovale. Depending on the circumstances, a patent foramen ovale may be completely asymptomatic, or may require surgery. The limbus of fossa ovalis (annulus ovalis) is the prominent oval margin of the fossa ovalis in the right atrium. It is most distinct above and at the sides of the fossa ovalis; below, it is deficient. A small slit-like valvular opening is occasionally found, at the upper margin of the fossa, leading upward beneath the limbus, into the left atrium; it is the remains of the fetal aperture the foramen ovale between the two atria.

Almost immediately after the infant is born, the foramen ovale and ductus arteriosus close. The major changes that are made by the body occur at the first breath (in the case of heart and lung functions) and up to weeks after birth (such as the liver's enzyme synthesis). The foramen ovale becomes the fossa ovalis as the foramen closes. This enables respiration and circulation independent from the mother's.