Table 1. Baseline characteristic of the patients*.
| Characteristics | Total | Females | Males |
| No. of patients | 26 | 15 | 11 |
| Number of biopsies (mean+range) | 124 | 6.6 (4–14) | 2.3 (1–4) |
| Mean age (years) | 41±20.0 | 31.5±21.7 | 53.4±6.8 |
| Treatment indication | |||
| Congestive cardiomyopathy | 10 | 5 | 5 |
| Ischemic heart diseases | 13 | 7 | 6 |
| Hypertrophic cardiomiopaty | 1 | 1 | |
| Acquired valve disease | 1 | 1 | |
| Cogenital heart disease | 1 | 1 | |
| Diabetes | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| Smoking | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| Re-operation | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Hypertension | 9 | 4 | 5 |
| Thromboembolic episodes | 9 | 2 | 7 |
| Hypercholesterolemia | 16 | 8 | 8 |
| Kidney failure | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Gastric ulcer | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Liver failure | 2 | 0 | 2 |
*
Values are numbers of patients, unless indicated otherwise.