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Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 13, Issue 8 613-616, Copyright © 1994 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Left ventricular echogenic focus in the fetal heart: pathologic correlation
D. L. Brown, D. J. Roberts and W. A. Miller
Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.
Echogenic foci within the left ventricle of the heart have been found in a
minority of fetuses and generally are believed to be a normal variant. The
cause and exact location of these foci have remained speculative, however.
We identified three fetuses with this sonographic finding in whom
pathologic correlation was available. The only consistent histologic
finding present in all three fetuses was mineralization within a papillary
muscle; the chordae tendineae were normal. One of the three fetuses had
trisomy 21. Echogenic foci within the left ventricle of the fetal heart
represent papillary muscle mineralization. Until more data are available to
investigate any possible association with aneuploidy, an echogenic focus in
the left ventricle should still be considered a normal variant.
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