Heart transplantation in an adult patient with isolated noncompaction of the left ventricular myocardium

Sigita Glaveckaitė¹, Kęstutis Ručinskas¹, Jelena Čelutkienė¹, Vytė Maneikienė¹, Diana Zakarkaitė¹, Sigita Aidietienė¹, Nomeda Valevičienė², Mindaugas Matačiūnas², Edvardas Žurauskas³, Pranas Šerpytis¹, Aleksandras Laucevičius¹

¹Clinic of Heart and Vascular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, ²Clinic of Chest Diseases, Allergology and Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, ³Center of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Lithuania

Key words: isolated noncompaction of the left ventricular myocardium; echocardiography; computed tomography; cardiovascular magnetic resonance; heart transplantation.

Summary. Isolated noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium is defined as a rare cardiomyopathy caused by intrauterine arrest of compaction of the myocardial fibers and meshwork, an important process in myocardial development, in absence of any coexisting congenital heart lesions. A lot of controversies exist about diagnostic criteria, nomenclature, origin, pathogenesis, and prognosis of this disease. Here, we describe an adult patient with isolated left ventricular noncompaction who presented with worsening congestive heart failure and was successfully treated with heart transplantation.

Correspondence to S. Glaveckaitė, Clinic of Heart and Vascular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Santariškių 2, 08661 Vilnius, Lithuania. E-mail: sigita.glaveckaite@santa.lt

Received 26 January 2009, accepted 5 March 2010