title: 'Honeycomb appearance' on three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography as the landmark of left ventricular non-compaction: two case reports.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Left ventricular non-compaction is a rare congenital heart disease, and is most commonly diagnosed via two-dimensional echocardiography according to echocardiographic criteria. Recently, transthoracic three-dimensional echocardiography has become available in the clinical setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  We present two isolated cases of left ventricular non-compaction from Japan (in an 84-year-old woman and 47-year-old man) that were confirmed by two-dimensional echocardiography, contrast-enhanced two-dimensional echocardiography, three-dimensional echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. In both cases, three-dimensional echocardiography successfully demonstrated the trabecular meshwork of the left ventricle, referred to as a 'honeycomb appearance'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Three-dimensional echocardiography has the advantage of visualizing an en-face view of the trabecular meshwork, which is not possible with two-dimensional echocardiography. We further emphasize the clinical utility of three-dimensional echocardiography, which is not limited to just the observation of the trabeculations and inter-trabecular recesses, but can also visualize the trabecular meshwork with a 'honeycomb appearance'.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Japan Self Defense Forces Central Hospital, Ikejiri 1-2-24, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo 154-0001, Japan. tknagai@zd5.so-net.ne.jp.
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Konishi
authors.forename: Tomoo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamabe
authors.forename: Junko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hisadome
authors.forename: Mikoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Hirotsugu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tabata