Angiocardiograms and Hemodynamics in Idiopathic Cardiomyopathy, With Reference to Histology of Biopsied Ventricular Myocardium

Cardiac catheterization, angiocardiography and ventricular muscle biopsy were performed in forty patients with idiopathic cardiomyopathy and included 21 cases of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and 19 cases of congestive cardiomyopathy. 1) Cardiac catheterization revealed normal cardiac index and stroke index in both types, although there was a slight tendency toward decrease in cases of CCM. HCM showed slightly elevated right ventricular end-diastolic pressure and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure with a high incidence of atrial kick. CCM showed an elevated mean pulmonary artery, mean pulmonary wedge and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure. 2) Angiocardiographic findings revealed that in HCM left ventricular end-diastolic volume as well as left ventricular end-systolic volume, ejection fraction, meanVcf and MNSER were within normal range, and left ventricular anterior wall thickness, left ventricular mass and shortening of short axis in systole were increased. In CCM left ventricular end-diastolic volume and end-systolic volume increased, and ejection fraction, meanVcf, MNSER were decreased. The left ventricular anterior wall thickness was normal, and the left ventricular mass was smaller compared to the volume. The shortening of long and short axes in systole was slight. Left ventricular asynergy and mitral regurgitation occurred frequently. Coronary cineangiograms revealed normal patterns in both types. 3) Histological findings revealed hypertrophy of myofibers, degenerative changes, i.e. scarcity of myofibrils, deformity of nucleus and vacuolization of myocardial fibers, and collagen proliferation in both types. 4) No definite relationship was seen between parameters of left ventricular function and the findings of biopsied left ventricular muscle except for increase in wall thickness which might be apparently due to hypertrophy of the myocardial fibers.