Right and Left Heart Catheterization and Angiocardiographic Findings in Idiopathic Cardiac Hypertrophy with Endocardial Fibroelastosis

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Abstract
Right heart catheterization (R.H.C.) in combination with left heart catheterization was performed in 4 patients, and 2 were studied by R.H.C. alone. Angiocardiograms were performed in all six. There was marked elevation of the left ventricular diastolic pressure. Pulmonary arterial pressure and resistance were moderately or severely elevated. Angiocardiographic findings revealed 2 groups, those with a dilated left ventricle and those with a normal sized or small left ventricular cavity. Markedly reduced volume changes were noted in the former but not in the latter. Similarity of the hemodynamic and angiocardiographic findings in the face of marked variation in the extent and degree of endocardial thickening at autopsy suggests that fibroelastosis is a secondary phenomenon and that ventricular dysfunction is the primary lesion. Hence the term "idiopathic cardiac hypertrophy with endocardial fibroelastosis" is preferred.