Abstract
Amyloidosis is a systemic disease frequently involving the myocardium and leading to functional disturbances of the heart. Amyloidosis can mimic other cardiac diseases. A conclusive clinical diagnosis of cardiac involvement can only be made by a combination of different diagnostic methods. In 7 patients with myocardial amyloidosis we used a combined first-pass and static scintigraphy with technetium-99 m-pyrophosphate. There was only insignificant myocardial uptake of the tracer. The first-pass studies however revealed reduced systolic function in 4/7 patients and impaired diastolic function in 6/7 patients. Therefore, although cardiac amyloid could not be demonstrated in the static scintigraphy due to amyloid fibril amount and composition, myocardial functional abnormalities were seen in the first-pass study.
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Hartmann, A., Frenkel, J., Hopf, R. et al. Is technetium-99 m-pyrophosphate scintigraphy valuable in the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis?. Int J Cardiac Imag 5, 227–231 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01797839
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01797839