[The course of endomyocardial fibrosis following surgical endocardial decortication]

Between 1971 and 1983 the authors observed 10 patients with left ventricular (n = 3) and biventricular (n = 7) endomyocardial fibrosis (7 women and 3 men). Seven of the 10 patients underwent open heart surgery with endocardial decortication of the left (n = 5) or left and right (n = 2) ventricle combined with mitral (n = 6) and tricuspid (n = 2) valve replacement. In 1 patient left ventricular endocardial decortication was performed without valve replacement. Three of the 10 patients were treated medically because functional limitation was only mild. One of the medically treated patients died 4 years later from congestive heart failure. Postoperative follow-up was 4.4 years. Two of the 7 patients who had undergone surgery died due to recurrence of endomyocardial fibrosis with blood eosinophilia of 46% (Löffler's endocarditis) in one, and due to severe left ventricular heart failure in the other. Annual mortality was 6.4%. NYHA classification was 3.4 pre- and 2.0 (p less than 0.005) postoperatively. Four patients were recatheterized 10 months after surgery: left ventricular end-diastolic pressure had decreased significantly from 24.6 to 13.6 mm Hg, cardiac index had increased slightly from 1.9 to 2.4 l/min/m2, left ventricular end-diastolic volume had increased from 69 to 84 ml/m2 (ns) and left ventricular ejection fraction remained unchanged pre- and postoperatively (59% and 57% respectively). It is concluded that endomyocardial fibrosis involves both ventricles in 70% of all patients, and that women are affected more frequently than men. Endocardial decortication with AV-valve replacement is regarded as the therapy of choice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)