%0 Journal Article
%T Echocardiography in the diagnosis left ventricular noncompaction
%A Ze-Zhou Song
%J Cardiovascular Ultrasound
%D 2008
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1476-7120-6-64
%X In normal human hearts of children and adults the left ventricle (LV) has up to 3 prominent trabeculations and is, thus, less trabeculated than the right ventricle [1,2]. Rarely, more than 3 prominent trabeculations that is the so-called LV noncompaction of ventricular myocardium (NVM) can be found at autopsy and by various imaging techniques including echocardiography and MRI etc. in the LV.NVM is recently included in the 2006 classsification of cardiomyopathies as a Genetic Cardiomyopathy [3]. NVM occurs because of a disorder of endomyocardial morphogenesis that results in a failure of trabecular compaction of the developing myocardium [4]. In adult patients one or more segments, especially the apical, mid-lateral and mid-inferior regions, of the left ventricle, and sometimes both ventricles, are characterized by numerous sinusoids or trabeculae that are excessive in number and abnormal in prominence and by deep intratrabecular recesses covered by endothelium that exhibits continuity with ventricular endocardium(Figure 1). Numerous modalities have been used in the description, characterization, and diagnosis of NVM including, but not limited to, magnetic resonance imaging, two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE), contrast-enhanced 2DE, and angiography [5,6]. 2DE is by far the most commonly used diagnostic modality. On the basis of echocardiographic studies, the prevalence of NVM has been estimated at 0.05% in the general population [7]. Therefore, the following review aims to give an overview about the current knowledge and controversial issues regarding echocardiography in the diagnosis and management of NVM.There are 2 sets of echocardiographic criteria for IVNC diagnosis: the Jenni criteria, which stress the presence of a 2-layered structure, and the Chin criteria, which focus on the depth of the recess compared with the height of the trabecula [8,9]. In both sets, it is important that there are no other cardiac structural abnormalities, such as semilunar valve
%U http://www.cardiovascularultrasound.com/content/6/1/64