Endomyocardial biopsy--technical aspects experience and current status. An Indian perspective

Experience of endomyocardial biopsy from a tertiary care center in India

BACKGROUND

Endomyocardial biopsy is the gold standard and has a definite role in the surveillance of cardiac allograft rejection. Its role in other cardiac diseases is limited. However, it is required for conclusive diagnosis of a few entities in which it can influence patient management. There is no reported data regarding the utility of endomyocardial biopsy in the Indian population. Thus, this study was undertaken in a tertiary care center in India to assess the utility of endomyocardial biopsy in various cardiac diseases in the context of clinical diagnoses.

METHODS

All endomyocardial biopsies conducted over a 27-year period were evaluated. Clinical details including indication for biopsy were collected. Histopathological findings were recorded and classified as definitive diagnosis, probable diagnosis with features consistent with the clinical diagnosis, and nonspecific morphological findings.

RESULTS

A total of 927 endomyocardial biopsies from 719 patients were reviewed. Endomyocardial biopsy was diagnostic in 12.5% of native cardiac biopsies and 52.1% showed nondiagnostic findings. The most frequent diagnoses were amyloidosis (58.7%) and myocarditis (8.6%). Endomyocardial biopsy had a diagnostic role in evaluation of restrictive cardiac diseases. Endomyocardial fibrosis and tubercular myocarditis, relatively more prevalent in the Indian population, were also identified. Cases of rheumatic heart disease, desmin cardiomyopathy, and microfibrillar cardiomyopathy were surprise findings, proving the usefulness of endomyocardial biopsy in detecting some rare cardiac conditions.

CONCLUSION

Endomyocardial biopsy is an important tool for the diagnosis of specific cardiac diseases including some rare entities, and for conditions which are more prevalent in our country, requiring biopsy confirmation.

Cardiac involvement in the adult primary vasculitides

INTRODUCTION

Heart involvement in vasculitis is rare, but potentially severe. The ascertainment of cardiac disease in vasculitis is complex and requires an integrated multidisciplinary approach involving the Rheumatologist, Radiologist, Cardiologist, and Heart surgeon.

AREAS COVERED

the authors searched PubMed using the keywords 'heart'[Mesh] and vasculitis"[Mesh].

EXPERT OPINION

Virtually any vasculitis can affect the heart, but cardiac involvement is more common in some vasculitides such as Takayasu arteritis, polyarteritis nodosa, and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis. Immunosuppressive treatment and when indicated surgery can improve the prognosis.

Heart failure in children in tropical regions

With the ever increasing younger population in tropical countries, the number of children with heart failure is increasing. However, the etiology of heart failure in this region varies considerably from that in the temperate region, with infectious causes leading the list. In this review, we have summarized the important causes of heart failure seen in the pediatric population in tropical regions.

Complications of 2-D echocardiography guided transfemoral right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy

Endomyocardial biopsy (EMBx) is a useful tool for diagnosing various cardiac pathologies. However, the routine use of EMBx has not gained widespread acceptance due to the possible complications related to the EMBx. Thus, not much information is available on the complications related to the EMBx. We prospectively evaluated 90 consecutive patients who underwent 2-D echocardiography guided transfemoral right ventricular EMBx at Kyungpook National University Hospital between March 2002 and November 2005 to determine the incidence, nature and subsequent management of complications related to EMBx. The clinical diagnoses before the EMBx were arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia in 54, dilated cardiomyopathy in 19, Brugada syndrome in 9, myocarditis in 6 and miscellaneous in 2 patients. The overall major complication rate was 5.6% and no procedure-related mortality occurred. Myocardial perforation (n=3), which was the most frequent complication, did not progress to cardiac tamponade requiring pericardiocentesis in any patient. Hemodynamically unstable ventricular tachycardia occurred in 1 patient. New and persistent right bundle branch block occurred in another. Our findings suggest that 2-D echocardiography guided transfemoral right ventricular EMBx is a relatively safe procedure.