Introduction The placenta is one of the most important and least understood organs in the human body. It is a complex, highly organized structure that—amazingly—can be grown, discarded, and fully grown again in a repetitive manner. More than just an…
Introduction As fetal echocardiography has advanced over the past several decades, our understanding of the natural history of congenital heart disease in utero has progressed. For select lesions that evolve in utero and lead to significant morbidity and/or mortality by…
Introduction With the arrival of echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), providing the means of noninvasively detecting and monitoring anomalies occurring during pregnancy, the fetus has increasingly become the target of prenatal treatment. Nonetheless, pregnancy is a unique situation, as…
Introduction Malformation of the heart and arterial trunks is the most common form of congenital anomaly found in humans. They occur in approximately 6 of every 1000 live births and in 8 to 10 of every 1000 pregnancies. Fetal echocardiography,…
Introduction The ability to accurately measure blood flow and oxygen saturations across the human late-gestation fetal circulation offered by advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has provided new insights into the impact of congenital heart disease (CHD) on the developing…
Introduction The heart is the first organ to become fully functional in the developing embryo, providing the circulatory system necessary for embryogenesis and subsequent fetal development when growth cannot be sustained by diffusion of nutrients. Rapid advances in genetics and…
A functional myocardium is necessary for viability during embryonic and fetal development. As such, the heart is the first functional organ because its ability to distribute essential nutrients to the developing embryo is essential for viability and normal progression of…
Perhaps one of the most vexing aspects of congenital cardiac disease is the current inability to explain its origin. Environmental causes have been invoked, and until recently only scant evidence had pointed toward a genetic component. Recent experimental data, combined…
Introduction From the functional point of view, the heart is simply a specialized part of the vascular system. Nonetheless, development of the heart as a specialized pump is of great significance. We have learned a great deal over recent decades…
Introduction It is axiomatic that to understand abnormal anatomy, and to describe it adequately, it is necessary first to understand the normal arrangement, including the relationships of the conduction tissues and coronary arteries to the various components of the heart.…