Criss-cross heart or ‘upstairs–downstairs’ heart.
Review by S.Gerboni

Lev and Rowlatt in 1961 described unusual arrangement of the cardiac inlets : ventricular chambers arranged in a superoinferior fashion, with the RV superiorly and the LV inferiorly located. The term Criss-cross heart,was introduced by Anderson et al. in 1974, defined as crossing of the long axes of the AV valves.

Fetal echocardiography at the time of the nuchal translucency scan
C. M. Lombardi 1 *, M. Bellotti 2, V. Fesslova 3, A. Cappellini 4

Cardiac hemangioma during fetal life
The prevalence of cardiac tumors has been reported to be 0.05% in an autopsy study of infants only. Cardiac hemangioma in infancy is extremely rare and resection of these tumors after prenatal diagnosis has been rarely reported

Noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium (NCVM) is a rare cardiomyopathy characterized by numerous, prominent trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses caused by arrest in myocardial embryogenesis. This study reviews our experience with neonatal and fetal NCVM. In contrast to the past reports of fetal and neonatal NCVM, all pts in this group improved, and survived infancy.

Prenatal diagnosis of persistent left superior vena cava and its associated congenital anomalies C. BERG, M. KN¨ UPPEL, A. GEIPEL, T. KOHL, M. KRAPP†, G. KN ¨ OPFLE‡, U. GERMER§, M. HANSMANN* and U. GEMBRUCH* *Department of Prenatal Medicine and Obstetrics, University of Bonn, and ‡Department of Pathology, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universit ¨ at, Bonn, †Division of Prenatal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus L¨ ubeck and §Department of Prenatal Medicine, University of Regensburg, Germany

Persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) represents the most common form of anomalous systemic venous return in adults. It has been observed in 0.3% of autopsies in the general population and in 4–8% of patients with congenital heart disease. The PLSVC usually drains into the right atrium via the coronary sinus and may lead to a dilatation of the latter in the prenatal period.

Diagnosis, characterization and outcome of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries in the fetus: a multicenter series of 30 cases
D. PALADINI, P. VOLPE†, M. MARASINI‡, M. G. RUSSO§, M. VASSALLO, M. GENTILE¶,and R. CALABR ` O§
*Fetal Cardiology Unit, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University Federico II of Naples and §Department of Pediatric Cardiology, 2nd University of Naples, Monaldi Hospital, Naples, †Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, ‘‘Di Venere-Giovanni XXIII’’ Hospital and ¶Department of Medical Genetics, I.R.C.C.S. ‘‘Di Venere-Giovanni XXIII’’ Hospital, Bari and ‡Pediatric Cardiology, I.R.C.C.S. Giannina Gaslini Hospital, Genoa, Italy

Congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA) is characterized by atrioventricular and ventriculoarterial discordance. It represents a rare cardiac defect, accounting for 1.1% of cases of major congenital heart disease (CHD), and has an incidence at birth of 0.02 per 1000 live births. Prenatal diagnosis of this lesion is feasible but may be difficult to detect at routine screening because the atrioventricular discordance may be overlooked if other significant anomalies of the fourchamber view are absent.