title: Isolated left ventricular apical hypoplasia: a new congenital anomaly described with cardiac tomography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe cardiac tomography findings of an apparently new, presumably congenital, left ventricular (LV) abnormality noted consistently in three patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three patients presenting with non-specific symptoms including fatigue, shortness of breath, or chest discomfort were evaluated with cardiac tomography for cardiac structure and function.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings from the three patients were very similar: a truncated and spherical LV with abnormal diastolic and systolic function, invagination of fatty material into the myocardium of the defective LV apex, origin of a complex papillary network in the anteroapical LV, and an elongated right ventricle wrapping around the deficient apex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Isolated LV apical hypoplasia is a unique, presumably congenital, cardiac anomaly that is an important condition to recognise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology (Section of Cardiovascular Imaging), Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Valls
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Srichai
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Stillman
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: White
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018636:Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods