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Updated: Jul 18, 2026

Morphological and Functional Assessment of the Right Ventricle Using 3D Echocardiography
Published on: October 28, 2020
Isolated left ventricular apical hypoplasia: a new congenital anomaly described with cardiac tomography
M Fernandez-Valls1, M B Srichai, A E Stillman
1Department of Radiology (Section of Cardiovascular Imaging), Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA.
Objective:
To describe cardiac tomography findings of an apparently new, presumably congenital, left ventricular (LV) abnormality noted consistently in three patients.
Patients:
Three patients presenting with non-specific symptoms including fatigue, shortness of breath, or chest discomfort were evaluated with cardiac tomography for cardiac structure and function.
Results:
Findings from the three patients were very similar: a truncated and spherical LV with abnormal diastolic and systolic function, invagination of fatty material into the myocardium of the defective LV apex, origin of a complex papillary network in the anteroapical LV, and an elongated right ventricle wrapping around the deficient apex.
Conclusions:
Isolated LV apical hypoplasia is a unique, presumably congenital, cardiac anomaly that is an important condition to recognise.
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