Soh Eugene K, Villines Todd C, Feuerstein Irwin M
Division of Cardiology, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC20307, USA.
J Cardiovasc Comput Tomogr. 2008 May-Jun;2(3):191-2. doi: 10.1016/j.jcct.2008.02.006. Epub 2008 Feb 15.
Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is an inheritable cardiomyopathy that is characterized by fibrofatty infiltration of the RV myocardium, often resulting in arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The diagnosis often requires imaging of the right ventricle, typically by magnetic resonance imaging. We describe a case of AVRD in which cardiac computed tomography was used as the imaging method for the right ventricle. The CT images showed changes consistent with ARVD to include RV enlargement, excessive trabeculations, fatty infiltration, and marked RV hypokinesia. We believe these images show a novel use for multislice CT in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with suspected ARVD.