New guideline statement on endomyocardial biopsy 

The scientific statement was designed as the basis for informed clinical decision making, weighing the risk of EMB against the incremental diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic value of the procedure. 

In contrast to most of the published literature the statement focuses on the clinical presentation of the patient and not on specific cardiac diseases, which are usually only known after the EMB has been performed. Thus, a total of 14 clinical scenarios are presented in the paper and the value of EMB is compared with procedural risks for each of these scenarios. The table shows the recommendations for EMB in each of the scenarios as concluded by the group. As an example, EMB in a 30-year-old woman with heart failure of more than three months' duration with new ventricular arrhythmias demonstrated cardiac sarcoidosis.

Today, a whole another Guideline Symposium is devoted to the role of endomyocardial biopsy, with four practical presentations on how to perform the biopsies, how to process and interpret them, and on how to apply them in patients with heart failure and  unexplained chronic cardiomyopathy.

Access the ESC Practice Guidelines on the Role of Endomyocardial Biopsy in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease