Revisiting Transthyretin Related Cardiac Amyloidosis: Case Report
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Clinics and Practice 2018; volume 8:1054 Revisiting transthyretin related our hospital with worsening shortness of cardiac amyloidosis: breath (SOB) of 1-week duration. Her SOB Correspondence: Munish Sharma, Department was worse even on walking less than 50 of Internal Medicine, Easton Hospital, Easton, Case report and review meters on a flat surface. Her primary cardi- PA, USA. E-mail: [email protected] of literature ologist at a different health facility had Key words: Cardiac amyloidosis; endomy- diagnosed her with CHF a year prior to this ocardial biopsy; cardiac magnetic resonance Munish Sharma,1 Eduard Koman,2 presentation. She was compliant with her imaging; ECG findings in cardiac amyloido- Gary S. Ledley,2 Sung-Hae Cho2 home dose of furosemide 40 mg daily. She sis. was primarily treated with intravenous 1 Department of Internal Medicine, furosemide 40 mg daily and her home med- Conflict of interest: the authors declare no 2 Easton Hospital, Easton; Department of ications including atenolol 50 mg daily and conflict of interest. Medicine-Division of Cardiology, Drexel lisinopril 5 mg daily were continued. University College of Medicine- Patient did not have history of myocardial Received for publication: 16 December 2017. Revision received: 30 April 2018. Hahnemann University Hospital, infarction in the past and did not have prior Accepted for publication: 2 May 2018. Philadelphia, PA, USA exercise/nuclear stress test or cardiac catheterization. On examination, her blood This work is licensed under a Creative pressure was 110/70 mm Hg, heart rate was Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 62 bpm and regular, respiratory rate was 12 License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Abstract per minute, temperature 98.6 F and SaO2 of more than 92% at room air. Her neck was ©Copyright M. Sharma et al., 2018 Licensee PAGEPress, Italy Amyloidosis is a complex group of dis- supple and cardiovascular examination Clinics and Practice 2018; 8:1054 orders that can involve many organs and revealed muffled heart sounds, normal doi:10.4081/cp.2018.1054 cause their dysfunction. Cardiac involve- S1S2 with no appreciable murmur. ment indicates worse prognosis and influ- Her ECG showed normal sinus rhythm, ences treatment strategies. Cardiac amyloi- ventricular rate of 64 bpm, left axis devia- only dosis is an under-diagnosed entity and high tion, low voltage QRS complexes with Q was detected with a special stain (Figure 4). index of clinical suspicion and careful inter- waves in inferior and antero-septal leads Urine protein electrophoresis and serum pretation of basic diagnostic tools such as (Figure 1). Her echocardiogram was signif- protein electrophoresis results were not sig- electrocardiogram and echocardiography is icant for moderate concentric left ventricu- nificant. Liquid chromatography tandem needed for early detection. Congestive heart lar hypertrophy (LVH), mild globaluse hypoki- mass spectrometry detected a peptide pro- failure due to restrictive pattern and/or con- nesis of left ventricle (LV), EF of 40-45%, file consistent with ATTR (transthyretin/ duction system abnormality, in absence of grade III diastolic dysfunction, trace mitral prealbumin)-type amyloid deposition. coronary artery disease should raise suspi- regurgitation (MR) and severe tricuspid Patient wished to follow up with her cion. We present a case of transthyretin regurgitation (TR). Pulmonary arterial sys- primary heart failure specialist .She was related cardiac amyloidosis and discuss the tolic pressure was 45-50 mm Hg and esti- discharged on her previous home regimen key clinical and diagnostic findings along mated right atrial (RA) pressure of 3 and new diagnosis of ATTR-type cardiac with review of existing literature regarding mmHg. Interventricular septum was thick- amyloidosis was conveyed to the primary its management and outcomes. ened and showed granular sparkling cardiologist. appearance (Figure 2). In contrast, her echocardiogram done on 10/2016 had shown an EF of 50-55%, grade I diastolic Introduction dysfunction with evidence of trace TR. Her Discussion left heart catheterization revealed no signif- Amyloidosis is a unique group of disor- icant coronary artery disease while right Majority of cardiac amyloidosis is ders caused by accumulation of insoluble heart catheterization showed; RA pressure caused by one of the two different types of protein fibers, known as amyloid fibrils in 12 mm hg, right ventricle pressure = 55/10 protein; light chains or transthyretin. Light the extracellular spaces of Non-commercialtissues and mmhg, PA pressure = 55/25 (mean of 30 chain (AL) amyloidosis occurs due to clon- organs. Involvement of different organs and mmhg), pulmonary capillary wedge pres- al proliferation of plasma cells in bone mar- tissues in amyloidosis is often responsible sure (PCWP) = 20 mmhg, Aortic pressure row producing large amount of light chains, for missed or delayed diagnosis, and amy- (Ao)=134/64 (mean=97) mm hg, left ven- which are mis-folded into beta-pleated loidosis remains a considerable clinical tricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) = sheets and get deposited in various tissues. challenge as it is implicated in 1/1000 death 15 mm hg, cardiac output = 4.83 L/min, car- AL amyloidosis is the most common type of in developed countries.1 Cardiac involve- diac index (CI) = 2.71 L/min/m2. A cardiac cardiac amyloidosis. About 2000 to 3000 ment can be primary, a part of systemic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed new cases of AL amyloidosis occur each amyloidosis, or a result of chronic systemic global hypokinesis of the LV with diffuse year in the United States, two thirds of these diseases. myocardial delayed enhancement and patients are male, and almost all of them are hypertrophy of interventricular septum over the age of 50. Transthyretin-related without any evidence of perfusion defect. (TTR) amyloidosis is derived from Case Report This constellation of symptoms was consis- transthyretin, which is produced by the tent with cardiac amyloidosis (Figure 3). liver. There are 2 types of TTR-related amy- On 3/2017, a 72-year-old female with Right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy loidosis: a genetic form known as heredi- history of CHF with preserved ejection obtained during right heart catheterization tary transthyretin-related amyloidosis fraction (EF) of 50-55 %, hypertension and showed deposits of amorphous material (ATTR) and a nonhereditary form known as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) was admitted to consistent with amyloid. No stainable iron wild-type ATTR amyloidosis. In ATTR, [Clinics and Practice 2018; 8:1054] [page 59] Case Report genetic mutation is present from the birth bone scintigraphy can be used reliable diag- ally seen in the late stages. EF is preserved but the abnormal deposition into tissues nosis without the need for histology espe- until end stage but strain is impaired very starts from age 30 to 60 years. It is a slowly cially in patients without monoclonal gam- early. In the late stages of the disease, a sys- progressive disease that usually affects the mopathy.9 Low voltage in the limb leads is tolic dysfunction of the left ventricle is heart of men, almost always in the sixth or one of the most common ECG manifesta- seen. Impairment of left ventricle diastolic seventh decade of life.2 tions, mainly in AL cardiac amyloidosis function is the first functional sign of car- Cardiac amyloidosis most commonly (50% cases) compared to lesser frequency diac involvement. At first, a reduced E manifests as heart failure. Dyspnea and in familial disease (25%) and senile cardiac wave with an increased deceleration time signs of right heart failure including periph- amyloidosis (40%).10 and a reduced early diastolic velocity of the eral edema, hepatomegaly and ascites are Echocardiographic findings generally left ventricular wall (E’) are noted. In the common presentation. Pulmonary edema is appear in the latter stages of the disease. advanced stage of the disease, an overt rare, although the left sided heart pressures Typically, granular appearance of the restrictive pattern can be found with are elevated. Rarely, due to disproportionate myocardium is seen in conventional 2-D increased E wave and decreased A wave, amyloid deposition in the inter-ventricular echocardiography. This finding is nonspe- shortened mitral inflow deceleration time septum, cardiac amyloidosis may be misdi- cific and is highly dependent on the and severely reduced E’ wave velocity.12 11 agnosed as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.3 machine settings. A normally sized ventri- With the advent of new echocardiographic Presence of purpura, leg or jaw claudication cle with increased wall thickness in both techniques related to deformation imaging, or angina suggests involvement of small ventricles is generally seen. Bi-atrial dila- promising results have been seen in diag- 13 vessel. Typically, small and intramyocardial tion and inter-atrial septal thickening are nosing subclinical cases. vessel involvement gives rise to normal typically seen in the advanced stages. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance coronary angiography. Syncope or pre-syn- Ventricular dilation is also a feature gener- (CMR) is more sensitive than echocardiog- cope are common and are associated with a high mortality in the 3 months following the event.4 Ventricular arrhythmias have not been found to be frequently associated with only syncopal episodes in cardiac amyloidosis. It is more likely multifactorial; postural or exertional hypotension due to excessive diuresis and autonomic neuropathy are the