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The Cardiovascular System

  • Chapter
Fetal and Neonatal Pathology

Abstract

The cardiovascular system, its structure and function, is of paramount importance during fetal development and the perinatal period. Recent advances in the means at our disposal for examining intrauterine growth patterns, and especially the cardiovascular system, are rapidly changing many of our concepts of this system. Furthermore, sophisticated techniques are now employed in the study of the embryogenesis and structure of the heart, giving us newer insights about the normal constituents of mature structures as well as the possible variations of cardiac abnormalities, some of which may be associated with chromosome anomalies or related to teratogens (Pexieder 1982; Nadas 1984; Allan et al. 1985; Gerlis 1985; Stewart et al. 1985). These advances have led to the earlier diagnosis and better understanding of cardiac malformation, often before serious functional disturbances appear, thus enabling early surgical repair with favourable outcome. In this chapter, we will endeavour to outline briefly some of the major pathological conditions most frequently encountered in the perinatal period and a simple approach to their study.

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Authors
  1. J. N. Cox
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  2. J. Briner
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. John Radcliffe Maternity Hospital, Headington, Oxford, OX3 9DU, UK

    Jean W. Keeling MB, BS, FRCPath (Consultant Paediatric Pathologist) (Consultant Paediatric Pathologist)

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© 1987 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Cox, J.N., Briner, J. (1987). The Cardiovascular System. In: Keeling, J.W. (eds) Fetal and Neonatal Pathology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3523-4_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3523-4_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-3525-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-3523-4

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