is it possible to have your heart on the right side of your body?

Answer 1

Yes. It's called situs inversus--all of the internal organs are on the opposite side.

Just to clarify about dextrocardia that someone else mentioned. Dextrocardia is the finding that someone's heart is on the right. Situs inversus is the finding that everything is switched around--although there are uncommon variations of this, such as situs inversus with levocardia.

Answer 2

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RE:
is it possible to have your heart on the right side of your body?

Answer 3

It is possible but it doesn't happen very often. The term "dextrocardia" refers specifically to the heart's being on the right side of the body, whereas situs inversus refers to a general reversal of the body's anatomay. It is possible to have situs inversus with or without dextrocardia or dextrocardia without situs inversus.

Answer 4

well it's probably possible if you have some sort of genetic disorder or something, but keep in mind, that contrary to popular belief the heart is located in the middle of your chest, just the left ventricle is larger and more powerful so it makes it feel like its on the left.

Answer 5

Yes, it's a very rare condition where the organs are on the opposite side of the body. I don't know the exact medical-ese for it and frankly I saw it on a CSI rerun, so that's the extent of my medical knowledge on the subject.

Answer 6

My father had lung cancer and consequently had his right lung removed. His left lung enlarged although I don't know if it was for compensation or what. Not only had his heart moved to the right side, but he also had breath sounds heard by a stethoscope on the right side, which should have been impossible due to the lung removal. He always had lots of nurses and medical students want to look and listen because it was so unique. His x-rays were pretty cool-looking as well.

Answer 7

Yes, I have seen cases of dextracardia. This may be only the heart or both heart and liver. In some cases only the liver is on the wrong side.

Answer 8

There is a condition called "situs inversus" where all the internal organs are on the opposite sides, including the heart. If you google "situs inversus" you can find more information about this.

Answer 9

There is nothing inherently special about which side of your body is which. As it is, your heart has to feed a lot of veins and arteries in your body that are specific to your right and left side, because of the efficiency and mechanics of your body.

The same thing holds for your brain. Your right brain and left brain do very specific functions, but the functions are consistent from person to person--left brain for logical and mathematical, right for emotional and subjective.

These are all consistent amongst all people because every part of your body has a specific function and they all have to fit together some way to get it to work. It doesn't technically matter your left from your right. The fact is, everything had to fit somewhere, so some stuff ended up on the left and some on the right, and it just so happens you evolved to have them where they are.

Problem is, you can't have just one thing on the other side. You already have guts on the right side of your body, so you can't put your heart there unless those guts get mirrored, too.

Your genes keep that from happening. There are genes to keep every part of your body on the right side where it is.
Hope that helps

Answer 10

Yes, it is possible. I'm not sure of the exact condition, but I have heard of it.