Heart 2001;86:599-600 ( December )

Editorial

Isolated left ventricular non-compaction: a distinct cardiomyopathy?

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Isolated left ventricular non-compaction (IVNC) was first described just over a decade ago,¹ and is now gaining prominence as a rare, but important, differential in the diagnosis of patients presenting with cardiac failure. This unclassified cardiomyopathy, previously known as "spongy left ventricular myocardium", is characterised by prominent myocardial trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses which lie in continuity with the left ventricular cavity. Although prominent trabeculae are seen in the normal right ventricle, the persistence of prominent left ventricular trabeculation is not normally apparent after birth. This failure in the normal compaction of the ventricular endomyocardium results from an arrest in cardiac embryogenesis (fig 1).

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Many cases of left ventricular non-compaction are caused by associated anomalies that generate intraventricular pressure overload, as for example in pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum² or anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary trunk.³ In these hearts, the deep recesses are . . . [Full text of this article]

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