日本小児循環器学会雑誌 Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery

Congenital heart disease is a multifactorial inheritance disorder that is induced by genetic and environmental factors during morphogenesis of the cardiovascular system in the embryos. Cardiac embryology plays an important role in reaching a definitive diagnosis, understanding the pathophysiology of disease, selecting the most appropriate medical/surgical treatment, and predicting complications and prognosis. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the processes involved in cardiac embryology is essential for pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons. In this review, cardiac embryology and cardiovascular morphogenesis are discussed to assist physicians in understanding the etiological mechanisms of congenital heart disease. The molecular and cellular mechanisms of congenital heart disease using genetically engineered mice are available in any expertized textbooks and journals. Thus, in this review, basic and comprehensive outlines of cardiac embryology and morphogenesis are presented using illustrations.