Radiology and pathology correlation in common infiltrative cardiomyopathies

Abstract

Infiltrative cardiomyopathies generally pose a diagnostic dilemma as current diagnostic tools are imprecise. Invasive endomyocardial biopsy is considered as the gold standard however it has some limitations. Recently cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is emerging as an excellent technique in diagnosing infiltrative cardiomyopathies and is increasingly being used. Characteristic pathologic and radiologic findings in most common infiltrative cardiomyopathies (amyloid, sarcoid and Fabry's) are discussed and correlated with relative CMR and histologic examples. There is fairly good correlation between the non-invasive radiologic and the invasive histologic findings in common infiltrative cardiomyopathies. Non-invasive CMR with its high sensitivity and specificity has an excellent role in establishing the diagnosis and improving the prognosis of common infiltrative cardiomyopathies.