Ventricular tachycardia in non-compaction of left ventricle: is this a frequent complication?
BACKGROUND
Isolated left ventricular non-compaction is the result of incomplete myocardial morphogenesis, leading to persistence of the embryonic myocardium. The condition is recognized by an excessively prominent trabecular meshwork and deep intertrabecular recesses of the left ventricle. Whether these intertrabecular recesses are a favorable substrate for ventricular arrhythmias is unclear. Some reports have found that the fatal ventricular arrhythmias may occur in approximately half of the patients. In this report we investigated about this association.


RESULTS
In total we evaluated a continuous series of 238 patients affected by non-compaction. Periodic Holter monitoring was performed every 6 months for 4 years. Only 11 patients had documented ventricular tachycardia, which was sustained in two cases and non-sustained in nine. In no cases we observed ventricular fibrillation.


CONCLUSIONS
Non-compaction alone does not seem to be a risk factor for malignant ventricular arrhythmias.
Fazio
Giovanni
G
Division of Cardiology, Casa del Sole Hospital, Palermo, Italy. Giovanni.fazio-aaaa@poste.it
Corrado
Giovanni
G
Zachara
Elisabetta
E
Rapezzi
Carlo
C
Sulafa
Ali K
AK
Sutera
Loredana
L
Pizzuto
Caterina
C
Stollberger
Claudia
C
Sormani
Luca
L
Finsterer
Joseph
J
Benatar
Abraham
A
Di Gesaro
Gabriele
G
Cascio
Caterina
C
Cangemi
Debora
D
Cavusoglu
Yuksel
Y
Baumhakel
Magnus
M
Drago
Fabrizio
F
Carerj
Scipione
S
Pipitone
Salvatore
S
Novo
Salvatore
S
D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*