TED演讲:无创治疗心脏疾病的新方法(2)

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One of every hundred children born worldwide has some kind of heart disease. 我得知，世界上每一百个新生儿中就会有一个患有某种心脏疾病。

There's a part of this problem I think I can solve -- the part of this problem I have spent my life working on. 我认为这是个我有能力去帮助治愈的疾病--事实上，我一生都致力于这项研究。

The problem starts during pregnancy¹.  这个疾病产生于怀孕期间。

The fetus² needs to survive inside the mother. Survival depends on communication between the systemic and the pulmonary blood. 胎儿是否能够在母亲腹中存活，取决于血液在体循环与肺循环间的交换。

At the moment of birth, this communication needs to stop. 胎儿出生时，这一交换必须停止。

If it doesn't close, the baby has a hole in the heart. It is caused by prematurity³ and genetic⁴ conditions. 如果未能停止，婴儿就会出现先天性心脏缺损。这个问题多由早产及遗传因素引发。

But what we know today is that a lack of oxygen is also one of the causes. 但如今我们发现，缺氧也会引发这一疾病。

As you can see in the chart, the frequency of this kind of hole dramatically increases with altitude. 在图中可以看到，随着海拔的增高，这种病出现的频率也大幅增加。

When you look at patients with this condition, they seem desperate to breathe. 先天性心脏缺损的患者难以正常呼吸。

To close the hole, major surgery used to be the only solution. 过去，我们只能通过大手术来修复这一缺损。

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