Left Ventricular False Tendons: A Morphological Study by Echocardiography

Purpose

This is a prospective study aimed to investigate the morphology of left ventricular false tendons (LVFTs) using echocardiography and explore its associations with age, sex, body mass index (BMI), congenital heart structural abnormalities, and premature ventricular contractions (PVCs).

Methods and Results

We analyzed data from 889 individuals who underwent consecutive echocardiograms at our ultrasound department between December 2023 and February 2024. Routine echocardiograms were performed to detect congenital structural abnormalities, with a focus on identifying LVFT. We examined the prevalence, number, and distribution of LVFTs, as well as their correlation with age, sex, BMI, and congenital heart structural abnormalities. LVFTs were detected in 460 of 889 cases (51.74%), totaling 672 LVFTs. LVFT prevalence significantly differed not only between sexes but also between ages. LVFT prevalence was higher in individuals with lower BMI. There was no significant difference in congenital heart structural abnormalities between the groups, but the composition of distinct types of structural abnormalities differed between the groups. The incidence of PVCs in the LVFT-positive group was significantly higher than in the LVFT-negative group.

Conclusions

The prevalence of LVFTs is notably higher in males than females and tends to decrease with advancing age and increasing BMI. LVFTs display diverse morphological features and may interact synergistically with certain congenital heart structural abnormalities. LVFTs can easily lead to PVCs in healthy people, but the risk of leading to malignant PVCs does not seem to be high. Correctly recognizing the morphological characteristics of LVFTs helps to distinguish similar ultrasonic images of different diseases, thus avoiding missed diagnoses and misdiagnoses in ultrasound work and clinical practice.