[Clinical light and electron microscopic findings in patients with late and early congestive cardiomyopathies (author's transl)].

Right of left ventricular biopsies were performed in 50 patients with late and early forms of congestive cardiomyopathy. Clinical data as well as light and electron microscopic findings are described. Chronical myocarditis could be detected by histological examination in three patients. Hypertrophy and degenerative changes of the heart muscle cells and interstitial fibrosis were the major morphological finding in the other cases. There is a good correlation between the severity of clinical symptoms and the extent of light and electron microscopical changes. In some patients with mild clinical symptoms advanced ultrastructural alternations were found.