title: Embryology of the heart and its impact on understanding fetal and neonatal heart disease.
abstract: Heart development is a complex process during which the heart needs to transform from a single tube towards a fully septated heart with four chambers and a separated outflow tract. Several major events contribute to this process, that largely overlap in time. Abnormal heart development results in congenital heart disease, which has an estimated incidence of 1% of liveborn children. Eighty percent of cases of congenital heart disease are considered to have a multifactoral developmental background, whereas knowledge of monogenetic causes for congenital heart disease is still limited. This review focuses on several novel findings in cardiac development that might enhance our knowledge of aetiology and support refinement of prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands; Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: acgitten@lumc.n.
authors.forename: Adriana C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Gittenberger-de Groot
authors.forename: Margot M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Bartelings
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Poelmann
authors.forename: Monique C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Haak
authors.forename: Monique R M
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jongbloed
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D047109:Fetal Development; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000196:embryology / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000196:embryology / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis
keywords: Cardiac development; Congenital heart malformation; Epicardium; First heart field; Neural crest cells; Nuchal translucency; Second heart field