Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 26, 2019; 7(6): 742-752
Published online Mar 26, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i6.742
Cardiac amyloidosis: A case report and review of literature
Adeyemi Adedamola Taiwo, Lavanya Alapati, Assad Movahed
Adeyemi Adedamola Taiwo, Department of Internal Medicine, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, United States
Lavanya Alapati, Assad Movahed, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, East Carolina Heart Institute, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27834, United States
Author contributions: Taiwo AA, Alapati L and Movahed A contributed to the manuscript writing.
Informed consent statement: Consent was obtained from the patient at the time of investigations, but not at the time of writing patient case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declared there were no conflicts of interest involved.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016) and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Assad Movahed, MD, Attending Doctor, Professor, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, East Carolina Heart Institute, East Carolina University, 115 Heart Drive, Greenville, NC 27834, United States. movaheda@ecu.edu
Telephone: +1-252-7444400 Fax: +1-252-7447724
Received: January 10, 2019
Peer-review started: January 10, 2019
First decision: January 26, 2019
Revised: February 12, 2019
Accepted: February 18, 2019
Article in press: February 18, 2019
Published online: March 26, 2019
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Cardiac amyloidosis, a disease caused by the precipitation of amyloid proteins in the myocardial extracellular matrix has been historically difficult to diagnose due to lack of specific clinical manifestations and necessity of biopsy to demonstrate amyloid deposition. However, advances in cardiovascular imaging techniques have facilitated earlier recognition of this disease. In addition, while once thought of as incurable, treatment strategies are emerging for cardiac amyloidosis, making early diagnosis essential.

CASE SUMMARY

We outline the case of a 73 years old African American female who was admitted with sudden onset shortness of breath and found to be in cardiogenic shock. Cardiac amyloidosis was suspected due to discordance between electrocardiogram and echocardiogram findings and this was subsequently confirmed with the aid of scintigraphy and an endomyocardial biopsy.

CONCLUSION

Our objective is to highlight the diagnostic evaluation and clinical implications of cardiac amyloidosis.

Keywords: Cardiac amyloidosis, Restrictive cardiomyopathy, Transthyretin, Case report

Core tip: Modern cardiovascular imaging techniques have facilitated earlier identification of cardiac amyloidosis, an important but under diagnosed cause of restrictive cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Early diagnosis is key as treatment strategies are emerging which have the potential to alter the disease course.