Methodological review of ventricular anatomy--the basis for understanding congenital cardiac malformations.

The ventricular mass extends from the atrioventricular to the ventriculo-arterial junctions. The junctions are obvious anatomic entities and provide discrete boundaries for the ventricles, which can then be subdivided into inlet, apical, and outlet components. The apical trabecular components are most constantly present when hearts are congenitally malformed. Abnormal ventricles, such as found in such congenitally malformed hearts, can be analysed according to the way in which the inlet and outlet components are shared between these apical components. The interrelationships of the right and left ventricles permit distinction of two specific patterns, which are mirror images of one another and which can be described in terms of right-handed and left-handed ventricular topology. It is exceedingly rare to find truly solitary ventricles. The conduction tissues are the only parts of the ventricular walls that are insulated within the working myocardial mass. Anomalous accessory muscular connections are the substrate for the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. This article is part of a JCTR special issue on Cardiac Anatomy.