Poor left ventricle compaction: diagnosis optimized by real-time three-dimensional echocardiography.

Mailing address: Gabriel Antonio Stanisci Miguel • Rua Santa Madalena, 290/131 01322-020 São Paulo, SP Brazil E-mail: [email protected] Manuscript received November 13, 2006; revised manuscript received February 16, 2007; accepted March 13, 2007. We treated a 37-year old male patient with diagnosis of poor left ventricle compaction. The two-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated extensive trabeculae associated with sinusoidal formation inside the left ventricle shown by color flow mapping. A real-time three-dimensional echocardiography confirmed these findings, and showed the presence of several excessively prominent trabeculae and deep intertrabecular recesses, particularly in the apical region. In cases of limited acoustic window, the three-dimensional imaging could provide more details through visualization of the cardiac structures by means of multiple observational plans, thus enhancing morphological and functional information (fig. 1).