What did the ductus venosus connect in fetal circulation?

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The ductus venosus provides a direct path for oxygen-rich blood from the placenta to the heart by channeling blood from the umbilical vein straight into the inferior vena cava, bypassing the hepatic sinusoids. This arrangement helps deliver highly oxygenated blood to the fetal heart and brain more efficiently. After birth it closes and becomes the ligamentum venosum. The other connections listed don’t describe this fetal shunt: the umbilical artery goes to the placenta, and neither the portal vein nor the hepatic artery connects the umbilical vein to the IVC.