Left ventricular bands (false tendons): echocardiographic and angiocardiographic delineation in children.

Left ventricular bands were prospectively identified in 31 of 218 (14.2%) children undergoing an initial two-dimensional echocardiogram for suspected or known cardiac disease. Left ventricular bands usually coursed from the midportion of the interventricular septum to the free wall of the left ventricle. Most of the bands were detected in the apical four-chamber view. In 7 of 31, an hourglass configuration of the left ventricular cavity was noted. Diagnostic left ventricular angiography was performed in 9 of 31 patients, and in seven of nine the band was delineated. The echocardiographic and angiographic findings in children with left ventricular bands are discussed and the literature is reviewed.