Nomenclature and Segmental Analysis of the Heart

A uniform approachSegmental analysis to the terminology used to describe the morphologyMorphology of congenital heart diseaseCongenital heart disease allows clear communication between clinicians. There are two main schools of nomenclatureNomenclature being used in major centers in North America and Europe. These two approaches devised by Van Praagh and Anderson share the principle of categorizing hearts into three major components, the atriaAtria, ventriclesVentricles, and great vesselsGreat vessels. Cardiac anatomy is described according to the individual anatomical segments and the connections they form. Although certain patterns of cardiac morphologyMorphology are common, an important principle is that virtually any combination of segments and connections is possible. SickKids uses the approach defined by Anderson and colleagues and the rest of this chapter will refer to this classification system.