Isolated right ventricular noncompaction in a newborn.

Noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium is a rare cardiomyopathy characterized by a pattern of prominent trabecular meshwork and deep intertrabecular recesses. The prevalence of left ventricular noncompaction is 0.01% in adults and 0.14% in pediatric patients. Although the usual site of involvement is the left ventricle, the right ventricle and septum can be affected as well. Previously, right ventricular noncompaction has been described only in a few cases of newborns with congenital heart defects and in adult patients. This report presents a newborn with isolated right ventricular noncompaction. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first newborn patient with isolated right ventricular noncompaction but no congenital heart defect involving only the right ventricle.