Septum_secundum

Septum secundum

Septum secundum

Add article description

The septum secundum is a muscular flap that is important in heart development. It is semilunar in shape, and grows downward from the upper wall of the atrium immediately to the right of the septum primum and ostium secundum. It is important in the closure of the foramen ovale after birth.

Quick Facts Details, Carnegie stage ...

Structure

Development

At the end of the fifth week of development, the septum secundum grows from the upper wall of the primitive atrium.[1] It grows to the right of the septum primum, which has already started growing.[1] It grows down towards the septum intermedium formed from the endocardial cushions.[1] Before birth, it does not fuse with the septum intermedium, leaving a gap to form the foramen ovale.[1] Shortly after birth, it fuses with the septum primum to form the interatrial septum, and the foramen ovale is closed.[1] The fossa ovalis denotes the free margin of the septum secundum after birth.

Clinical significance

Sometimes, the fusion of the septum secundum to the septum intermedium is incomplete, and the upper part of the foramen remains patent.[2] This creates an atrial septal defect (ASD).[2]

References

Public domain This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 512 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

  1. [1]
    Belmont, John W. (2015-01-01), Moody, Sally A. (ed.), "Chapter 33 - Genetic and Developmental Basis of Congenital Cardiovascular Malformations", Principles of Developmental Genetics (Second Edition), Oxford: Academic Press, pp. 607–633, ISBN 978-0-12-405945-0, retrieved 2021-01-05
  2. [2]
    Carlson, Bruce M. (2014-01-01), "Development of the Heart", Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences, Elsevier, doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-801238-3.05460-x, ISBN 978-0-12-801238-3, retrieved 2021-01-05
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Septum_secundum, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.