Primary cardiac amyloidosis.

[Primary cardiac amyloidosis].

Cardiac amyloidosis is an uncommon and often unrecognised cause of cardiac failure. It is an infiltrative disease that may mimic either a restrictive or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, constrictive pericarditis, coronary artery disease or valvular heart disease. The diagnosis should be suspected in a patient with cardiac failure who has low voltage complexes on the electrocardiogram, in associatio...

Cardiac amyloidosis.

Systemic amyloidosis commonly affects the heart. Indeed, cardiac symptoms may be the first clinical indicator of underlying amyloid deposition. Using two case studies, this article reviews the latest evidence regarding cardiac amyloidosis. The diagnosis of cardiac involvement can be established through imaging with echocardiography and magnetic resonance. Supportive evidence may be gained from ...

Cardiac amyloidosis

Amyloidosis is a family of disorders of the immune system in which one or more organs in the body accumulate amyloid. There are four different forms of amyloidosis: systemic amyloid light chain (AL) amyloidosis, amyloid A (AA) amyloidosis, hereditary, and senile amyloidosis. The abnormal proteins can be found as Bence-Jones proteins in urine mainly in patients with light chain (AL) amyloidosis....

Primary cardiac amyloidosis: A review of the literature.

A review of the literature on primary cardiac amyloidosis is presented. Its differentiation from constrictive pericarditis, both on clinical and haemodynamic grounds, is outlined. The importance of antemortem endomyocardial biopsy in establishing a definitive diagnosis of this relatively rare condition is stressed. Finally, an updated overview of the classification and immunological pathogenesi...

Primary amyloidosis.