Clinical profiles of patients with noncompaction cardiomyopathy accompanied by chronic heart failure

Objective Imaging standards of diagnosis of ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy(VNC) are based on the ratio of dense layer to non-dense layer, the thickness of non-dense myocardium or the number of myocardial trabeculae. Patients have clinical manifestations, ranging from asymptomatic to arrhythmia, heart failure, thromboembolism or sudden cardiac death. The purpose of this study was to explore clinical characteristics(CCs) of patients with VNC accompanied by chronic heart failure(VNC-CHF) and their influence on prognosis. Methods From January 2001 to December 2016, the patients with VNC-CHF in the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC(n=60, as research group) and the patients with dilated cardiomyopathy(n=71, as control group) in the hospital were retrospectively studied. Their CCs were analyzed and the influence on the patients' prognosis was evaluated. Results Compared with the control group, the proportion of male patients with VNC-CHF was higher than that of female patients(68.33% vs. 47.89%, P=0.018), and they were more likely to have left bundle branch block(56.67% vs. 29.58%, P=0.002) and right bundle branch block(6.67% vs. 0.00%, P=0.043). The incidence of fragmented QRS complexes(23.33% vs. 8.45%, P=0.018) was significantly increased. Logistic regression analysis showed that gender(P=0.028) and hypertension(P=0.024) were important factors in the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmia(VA) and the composite point which was composed of VA and embolism, respectively. The incidence of VA in male patients was higher than that in female patients. Conclusion VNC patients are prone to ECG abnormalities, in which male is an independent factor of VA, with poor prognosis. Hypertension in VNC patients will increase the incidence of embolism.