Is Left Ventricular Noncompaction Only a Morphological Feature? A Case of Disappearance of Noncompaction after Surgical Correction of Aorto-Right Ventricular Fistula, Interventricular Septal Defect and Aortic Stenosis

A 55-year-old man complaining of worsening dyspnea on exertion was diagnosed with restrictive interventricular septal defect, left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC), mild aortic valve stenosis and aorto-right ventricular fistula. He underwent surgical aortic valve replacement with a mechanical bileaflet valve (St. Jude n. 23) and contextual direct suture of interventricular septal defect and closure of aorto-right ventricular fistula. At 2 years of follow-up, the patient was in good general condition. A complete echocardiographic examination showed normalization of left ventricular dimensions and ejection fraction. Furthermore, left ventricular trabeculations became less evident and no longer met the diagnostic criteria for noncompaction. In our case, the expected left ventricular reverse remodeling after cardiac surgery was associated with a significant reduction in LVNC features. In conclusion, physicians should be careful in avoiding overdiagnosis of LVNC, whose features may indeed reflect only the hypertrabeculated morphology of a normal or pathological heart.