Red flags for the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis: simple suggestions to raise suspicion and achieve earlier diagnosis

Cardiac amyloidosis is an infiltrative disease characterized by extracellular deposition of insoluble amyloid fibrils in the heart leading to organ dysfunction. Despite recent diagnostic advances, the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis is often delayed or even missed. Furthermore, a long diagnostic delay is associated with adverse outcomes, with the early diagnosed patients showing the longest survival. In this narrative review we aimed to summarize the ‘red flags’ that may facilitate the correct diagnosis. The red flags may be classified as clinical, biohumoral, electrocardiographic, echocardiographic, and cardiac magnetic resonance features and should promptly raise the suspicion of cardiac amyloidosis in order to start a correct diagnostic pathway and targeted treatment strategies that may improve patients’ outcomes.
Source: Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Tags: Review Source Type: research