Open AccessCardiac Amyloidosis: Combined Use of Two‐Dimensional Echocardiography and Electrocardiography in Noninvasive Screening Before Biopsy
Author(s) -
Sivaram C. A.,
Jugdutt B. I.,
Amy R. W. M.,
Basualdo C. A.,
Haraphongse M.,
Shnitka T. K.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960081004
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiac amyloidosis , amyloidosis , cardiology , electrocardiography , biopsy , diastole , heart failure , cardiomyopathy , endomyocardial biopsy , radiology , blood pressure
Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) presenting with intractable congestive heart failure, electrocardiographic (ECG) normal or low voltage, and conduction or rhythm disturbances, is rapidly fatal. During life, CA often mimics other cardiomyopathies so that definitive diagnosis depends on demonstration of amyloid on myocardial biopsy. On two‐dimensional echocardiography (2‐D echo), nonspecific features, such as increased ventricular wall thicknesses, predominant diastolic dysfunction, and diffuse myocardial “sparkling,” are consistently found in CA. The combined presence of these 2‐D echo features and normal or low voltage on ECG is highly suggestive of CA, allows differentiation from other cardiomyopathies, and might be useful in noninvasive screening before myocardial biopsy.