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Transesophageal echocardiography-guided transvenous biopsy of a cardiac sarcoma
M T Savoia1, C Liguori, T Nahar
1Division of Cardiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
Transvenous endomyocardial biopsy is a well established procedure to diagnose rejection after heart transplantation as well as to assess for other cardiomyopathic processes. However, it is rarely used to obtain samples of unidentified cardiac masses. We report a case of a primary cardiac sarcoma in which the histologic diagnosis was provided by transesophageal echocardiography-guided transvenous biopsy. This procedure is accurate and can avoid the potential risk of a diagnostic thoracotomy.
Transvenous endomyocardial biopsy is a well established procedure to diagnose rejection after heart transplantation as well as to assess for other cardiomyopathic processes. However, it is rarely used to obtain samples of unidentified cardiac masses. We report a case of a primary cardiac sarcoma in which the histologic diagnosis was provided by transesophageal echocardiography-guided transvenous biopsy. This procedure is accurate and can avoid the potential risk of a diagnostic thoracotomy.