ULTRASTRUCTURAL ARTIFACTS IN BIOPSIED NORMAL MYOCARDIUM AND THEIR RELEVANCE TO MYOCARDIAL BIOPSY IN MAN

Biopsy specimens, as a source of myocardial tissue, are being used increasingly in the appraisal of various myocardial diseases. A study of myocardial tissue, biopsied and processed in various ways, and obtained from normal healthy experimental animals, showed that a variety of artefacts may be found. These artefacts develop in reactive, beating myocardium but not in non-reactive hearts. The artefacts are in many instances similar to, or mimic, changes previously described as pathological in origin. This is most unsatisfactory, and if valid pathological appraisals of myocardial biopsies are to be made, a technique allowing the recovery of tissue, free of biopsy artefact, is required. Such a technique is described.