ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the embryology, anatomy and physiology, as well as examine common disorders, congenital heart disease and their current management. The heart functions as an efficient organ providing oxygen and nutrients and disposing of carbon dioxide and waste to and from the mother’s blood. The heart has to function as soon as it forms. Rhythmic waves of electric depolarisation that trigger the myocardium to contract spontaneously arise from the cardiac muscle itself and spread from cell to cell. The foetal circulation is quite different from the neonatal circulation; it comprises two umbilical arteries bringing deoxygenated blood to the placenta, and a single umbilical vein carrying oxygenated blood back to the heart. Cardiac excitation originates in the sinoatrial node, spreads through the atrial muscle to the atrioventricular node and after a short delay progresses down the bundle of His to bring about depolarisation of the ventricular muscle.
