title: Left ventricular noncompaction: diagnosis by three-dimensional echocardiography.
abstract: Left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC) is a rare congenital disease caused by an arrest in normal myocardial embryogenesis, leading to persistence of numerous prominent trabeculations that communicate with the left ventricle. It was first described as a congenital condition affecting children, but several cases have been reported of late presentation. The main clinical manifestations are congestive heart failure, arrhythmias (supraventricular or ventricular) and systemic embolism. We present the case of a 51-year-old patient brought to our emergency department after an episode of symptomatic ventricular flutter requiring electrical cardioversion. Two-dimensional echocardiography with color Doppler suggested the diagnosis and the three-dimensional echocardiogram revealed the deep trabeculations typical of LVNC.
authors.affiliation: Serviço de Cardiologia, Hospital de S. Teotónio EPE, Viseu, Portugal. emanuelbaptista@gmail.com
authors.forename: Emanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Correia
authors.forename: Luís Ferreira
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gama
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nunes
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pipa
authors.forename: Costa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.forename: Odete
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dionísio
authors.forename: Oliveira
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Santos
mesh_terms: D019560:Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional; D006801:Humans; D056830:Isolated Noncompaction of the Ventricular Myocardium / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged