Ultrasound-guided intraoperative trans-epicardial needle biopsy of an intracardiac tumor

We describe the use of a novel interventional approach to the histopathologic diagnosis of a ventricular septal tumor using intraoperative ultrasound-guided trans-epicardial biopsy without the need for cardiopulmonary bypass in a 2-year-old child. This novel approach has not been previously reported. Multidisciplinary collaboration between cardiothoracic surgery, cardiology, cardiac imaging, and interventional radiology provided the ability to perform cardiac biopsy. This technique may be used in specific cases of cardiac tumors where tissue diagnosis is important, but surgical resection is deemed excessively risky or impossible.