PERSISTING SPONGY MYOCARDIUM - A CASE INDICATING THE DIFFICULTY OF ANTENATAL DIAGNOSIS

Persisting spongy myocardium (also known as noncompaction of the ventr icular myocardium) is a rare and special form of cardiomyopathy. The f ew cases reported in the literature were detected postnatally and invo lved a high rate of cardiovascular complications. This anomaly of endo myocardial morphogenesis, which occurs during the embryonic phase at t he stage of cardiac partitioning, is characterised by an excessive num ber of prominent trabeculae and by intertrabecular recesses within the myocardial wall. Antenatal detection is difficult in the absence of a n associated malformation, which is the general situation. We report a case of antenatal cardiomyopathy which led to therapeutic abortion. T he diagnosis of persisting spongy myocardium was made during fetopatho logic examination.