A CASE OF GIANT-CELL MYOCARDITIS AND MALIGNANT THYMOMA - A POSTMORTEMDIAGNOSIS BY NEEDLE-BIOPSY

This paper reports a case of fulminant giant cell myocarditis arising in association with a malignant thymoma causing death in a 46-year-old woman. Although the diagnosis was suspected in life, postmortem exami nation was required for confirmation of giant cell myocarditis. Consen t was obtained only for percutaneous needle biopsy of the heart. In or der to respect the family's wishes and harvest sufficient diagnostic myocardium, a simple needle-based biopsy technique was devised. A bone marrow trephine needle was attached to a 20 mi syringe and, with suct ion, multiple passes were used to fill 15 tissue cassettes. The cores were placed immediately in formalin and B5 fixatives. High-quality tis sue preservation was obtained without crush artefact. Immunohistochemi cal studies of the biopsy tissue confirmed that the giant cells were o f macrophage derivation.