Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE)--guided biopsy of a right atrial mass

Although performing a biopsy of the right ventricular septum is a routine procedure in many cardiac catheterization laboratories, the ability to direct a bioptome to a mass within the right or left side of the heart is extremely difficult with fluoroscopic or echocardiographic guidance. The first intracardiac echo (ICE) was performed in the early 1970s. Since that time, the use of ICE in the cardiac catheterization laboratory has aided in transseptal puncture, ablation of cardiac arrhythmias, mitral valvuloplasty, and the closure of atrial septal defects and patent foramen ovale. This case report describes the use of ICE to facilitate intracardiac biopsy of a right atrial mass.