Discordance between pre and post cardiac transplant diagnosis: implications for pre- and postoperative decision making.

A correct clinical diagnosis in end-stage patients undergoing cardiac transplantation may have important prognostic and therapeutic implications. A retrospective clinico-pathologic study was carried out in 257 patients who had undergone cardiac transplantation at the University of Padua. A discrepancy between clinical and pathological diagnosis was found in 20 cases (8%). Among 126 patients with the clinical diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy, seven were found eventually to have ischemic heart disease (IHD), five myocarditis, one arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), and one non-compacted myocardium. Among the 87 patients with clinical diagnosis of IHD, three turned out to be dilated cardiomyopathy and one granulomatous myocarditis. Among the 10 patients with the clinical diagnosis of hypertrophic-restrictive cardiomyopathy, one had ARVC and one had cardiac fibroma. Altogether, only 24.5% underwent endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) and 75% coronary angiography before transplantation. Missed diagnosis of myocarditis occurred in patients in whom EMB was not carried out. EMB and coronary angiography might be indicated routinely in patients with apparent dilated cardiomyopathy, before proceeding to cardiectomy.