Clinical Evaluation of Transvenous Catheter Technique for Endomyocardial Biopsy

¹ Assistant Professor of Medicine, Howard University School of Medicine; Cardiologist, D.C. General Hospital
² Senior Investigator, Section of Pathology, National Heart and Lung Institute, Bethesda, Maryland
³ Chief, Section of Pathology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
⁴ Cardiac Laboratory, D.C. General Hospital, the Howard University and George Washington University Medical Services, D.C. General Hospital, Washington, D.C., and the Section of Pathology, National Heart and Lung Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland

Results obtained with the technique of Sakakibara and Konno for transvenous biopsy of right ventricular endomyocardium are described. The instrument consists of a metal catheter which bears two 2 x 2.5 mm biopsy spoons at its tip and is introduced into the right ventricle through the use of standard techniques of right-heart catheterization. This simple and safe technique was enployed in 28 patients with a variety of myocardial diseases of known and unknown etiology. Satisfactory specimens, usually multiple, were obtained in all 25 patients in whom the instrument could be introduced into the right ventricular cavity. Complications were minimal and the procedure was acceptable to the patients.