Cardiomyopathy/Arrhythmogenic dysplasia of right ventricle. Diagnosis of 13 patients with Endomyocardial Biopsy. Clinical, etiopathological and anatomopathological aspects

Abstract

Introduction: Right ventricle arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (RVAC) is a myocardial disease located in the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Assoc Group of Idiopathic and Genetic Cardiomyopathy. Few reports of this cardiomyopathy were found in Venezuela. Objective: To present 13 cases of RVAC diagnosed by right ventricle endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) and to demonstrate the usefulness of this diagnostic tool. Methods: Endomyocardium fragments obtained by bioptome in 13 patients were processed for study by photonic microscope and included in paraffin. The histological sections were obtained in 13 levels of cuts and stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin and Gomori's Tricromic. Results: M/F (8/5) patients had male predominance (62.0 %). The average age was 32.4 years old. The main symptoms were: Palpitations, syncope and chronic heart failure. Nine patients (69.0 %) had cardiac arrhythmias. The clinical diagnoses were: Etiology of Arrhythmias to be found (46.0 %), Myocardial Diseases (38.0 %). Only in two cases (15.0 %), the presumptive diagnosis of RVAC was made. Discussion and conclusion: An updated review of the clinical-pathological and etiopathogenic aspects of the disease were made and compared with our findings. We concluded in our series that EMB was a useful tool in determining the cause of cardiac arrhythmias.