Triphasic Mitral Inflow Pattern in a Patient with Congenital Absence of the Pericardium

A healthy 19-year-old man was referred to our hospital due to an elongated left heart border on chest radiograph. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a posteriorly deviated left ventricular apex, increased right ventricular dimension, and hypokinesis of the interventricular septum. Pulsed Doppler echocardiogram revealed a triphasic mitral inflow pattern. Myocardial longitudinal strain rate imaging revealed that the early diastolic strain rate abruptly decreased to a negative value and then became positive at the left ventricular apex. In this case of an absent pericardium, the triphasic mitral inflow pattern might have been caused by an early diastolic shortening and subsequent elongation at the apex.