Noncompaction cardiomyopathy

Noncompaction cardiomyopathy, abbreviated NCC and also called left ventricular noncompaction, is a rare congenital disease of the heart muscle that affects both children and adults. It results from abnormal prenatal development of the heart muscle. During development most of the heart muscle is a sponge-like meshwork of interwoven fibers, and as development normally proceeds these structures compact from spongy to solid, especially in the ventricles and above all the left ventricle. The disease results when that compaction fails, and the consequence is most evident in the left ventricle. Symptoms range greatly in severity, most arise from poor pumping performance of the heart, and the disease can be associated with other problems of the heart and the body. Other hypotheses have been proposed but none is as widely accepted as the noncompaction model.