Intracardiac echocardiography to guide myocardial biopsy of a primary cardiac tumour.
Mitchell ARJ., Timperley J., Hudsmith L., Neubauer S., Bashir Y.
A 61-year-old man presented with recurrent ventricular tachycardia (left bundle branch block morphology, superior axis). Magnetic resonance imaging (Fig. 1) and contrast-enhanced transthoracic echocardiography (Fig. 2) demonstrated an ill-defined mass in the right heart along the free wall of the right atrium, involving the tricuspid valve and extending into the right ventricle. Extensive investigation showed no evidence of extra-cardiac involvement and a tissue diagnosis was recommended. Accordingly, we elected to proceed to myocardial biopsy and, to facilitate accurate tissue localisation, we performed the procedure under guidance with intracardiac echocardiography.