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. 2024 Jun 15;63(12):1675-1681.
doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.2771-23. Epub 2023 Nov 13.

Prevalence of Left Ventricular Myocardial Crypts in Japanese Patients

Jumpei Watanabe  1 , Hiroaki Kawano  1 , Eijun Sueyoshi  2 , Harufumi Koike  2 , Tsuyoshi Yoshimuta  1 , Satoshi Ikeda  1 , Koji Maemura  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of Left Ventricular Myocardial Crypts in Japanese Patients

Jumpei Watanabe et al. Intern Med. .

Abstract

Objective Myocardial crypts are congenital abnormalities associated with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and other conditions. This study assessed the prevalence of myocardial crypts in Japanese patients. Methods Myocardial crypts were evaluated in a consecutive series of 300 patients (13-92 years old) who underwent computed tomography angiography (CTA) because of clinical suspicion of ischemic heart disease. Results We found a myocardial crypt incidence of 9.7% (29 patients) in our study population, with multiple crypts observed in 2.3% (7 patients). Among these, myocardial crypts were found in 2 out of 8 (25%) patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), 1 of which was apical-type HCM. In patients with a single crypt (22 patients), the most common location of the crypt was at the left ventricular apex (16/22 patients, 72.7%), followed by the inferior wall (5/22 patients, 22.7%) and the interventricular septum (1/22 patients, 4.6%). Conclusion The incidence of myocardial crypts observed in our study aligns with that reported in previous studies, although the most common location among the Japanese population was the left ventricular apex.

Keywords: computed tomography; congenital abnormality; crypt.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors state that they have no Conflict of Interest (COI).

Figures

Figure.
Figure.
Examples of crypts located in different segments of the left ventricle by cardiac computed tomography. In patients with a single crypt (arrowheads), crypts can be observed at the apex (A, B) and the inferior wall (C, D). In patients with multiple crypts (arrowheads), they can be observed in the interventricular septum (E) and inferior wall and apex (F).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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