Utility of heart biopsy in transplant patients

Unfortunately, noninvasive methods of monitoring heart transplant patients have not developed to an adequate extent to determine incipient rejection, and invasive endomyocardial biopsy remains the effective gold standard of monitoring(1). [...]at periodic intervals following transplantation, patient...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Ochsner journal 2001-10, Vol.3 (4), p.219-222
Main Authors: Beckman, E N, Mehra, M R, Park, M H, Scott, R L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biopsy
Cardiology
Heart
Infections
Lymphocytes
Patients
Surveillance
Transplants & implants
Under the Microscope
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Summary:Unfortunately, noninvasive methods of monitoring heart transplant patients have not developed to an adequate extent to determine incipient rejection, and invasive endomyocardial biopsy remains the effective gold standard of monitoring(1). [...]at periodic intervals following transplantation, patients undergo biopsy of the right ventricular myocardium via intravenous catheterization. A Grade 2 focus might actually be one part of unrecognized Grade 3A changes. Because of the effect of sampling, there is always the possibility of missing evidence of rejection in heart biopsies. Biopsies can provide evidence of disease such as toxoplasmosis infection (Figure 5) or recurrent amyloidosis (Figure 6). [image omitted: see PDF] [image omitted: see PDF] [image omitted: see PDF] Summary Heart biopsies have proved extremely useful in the care of patients following heart transplantation, but the findings must be correlated with the clinical situation.
ISSN:1524-5012