Cardiac developmental onomatology: the real heart of the matter

Abstract

There has been much controversy regarding Cardiac Embryology since the 19th Century; this has brought up contradictions over many studies on Cardiac Development, and stems mainly from semantic differences rather than from scientific observations. In 1998, FCAT published the 1st Edition of Terminologia Anatomica, which did not include Terminologia Embryologica, and to this day, we do not have a thorough compilation of Terminology related to Cardiac Development (O'Rahilly and Müller 1996). In the present study we have reviewed the literature from the 19th and 20th Centuries gathering the terms proposed by those scientists who influenced Prenatal Cardiac Terminology. Our aim is to bring to the attention of clinicians and researchers of cardiac morphogenesis the need to undertake a reform of the Developmental Cardiac Terminology. We believe an International Consensus on the terminology to be used during the developmental stages is urgent; it should be meaningful both to the experimental embryologist and to the cardiologist, without being ambiguous or controversial. We must not forget that a terminology is of value only when it is properly used.