Left Ventricular Diverticula and Aneurysms: Congenital and Acquired Lesions

Congenital diverticula and aneurysms are extremely rare cardiac anomalies, in contrast to acquired ventricular outpouchings, which are relatively commonplace. The English language literature pertaining to congenital lesions in particular is somewhat sparse; in addition, a definitive classification scheme for these malformations is lacking. In this manuscript, we review the salient literature pertaining to congenital diverticula, congenital aneurysms, acquired true aneurysms, "aneurysms" of the membranous interventricular septum, and left ventricular pseudoaneurysms. This is performed with attention to the clinical and pathological characteristics, etiology (if known), prognosis, and suggested management of these lesions. Important echocardiographic features are delineated in the figure legends; however, the differentiation between these lesions often must be made on clinical grounds as well.