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Cardiac amyloidosis: in search of the ideal diagnostic tool

  • Sophie I. MavrogeniEmail author
  • Vasiliki Vartela
  • Argyrios Ntalianis
  • Rosa Vretou
  • Ignatios Ikonomidis
  • Marini Tselegkidou
  • Ioannis Paraskevaidis
  • George Markousis-Mavrogenis
  • Michel Noutsias
  • Angelos Rigopoulos
  • Genovefa Kolovou
  • Efstathios Kastritis
Review articles
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Abstract

Background

Cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is due to amyloid deposition in the myocardium. Transthyretin (ATTR) and light-chain (AL) amyloidosis are the main types of CA. Here, we present the clinical and imaging findings in patients with CA and discuss the controversies with the aim of finding the ideal diagnostic tool.

Methods

Ten patients suspected of having CA on the basis of electrocardiographic (ECG) and echocardiographic findings were evaluated via cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR; 1.5 T) using cine, late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), T1, T2 mapping, and extracellular volume fraction. N‑terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels were also assessed in all patients.

Results

All ten patients had an echocardiogram suggestive of CA. The CMR study documented ventricular hypertrophy leading to small ventricular volumes, as assessed by echocardiography. Diffuse subendocardial LGE, supporting the diagnosis of CA, was identified in all except one patient, who had subepicardial LGE due to myocarditis that was verified by endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). Right ventricular (RV) involvement was identified in four of the ten patients, whose condition deteriorated rapidly over the next 6 months. The NT-proBNP levels were >332 pg/ml in all except two patients. Light-chain amyloidosis was identified via fat tissue biopsy in two patients and through renal biopsy in one patient. In two patients with positive technetium-99m, EMB confirmed the diagnosis of ATTR.

Conclusion

NT-proBNP may be a sensitive but nonspecific biomarker for assessing CA. However, CMR is the only imaging modality that can assess the pathophysiologic background of cardiac hypertrophy and the severity of CA, irrespective of NT-proBNP level.

Keywords

Cardiac amyloidosis Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging N‑terminal pro-BNP Electrocardiography Echocardiography 

Abbreviations

CA

Cardiac amyloidosis

CMR

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance

ECG

Electrocardiogram

ECV

Extracellular volume fraction

LGE

Late gadolinium enhancement

LVEF

Left ventricular ejection fraction

RVEF

Right ventricular ejection fraction

Kardiale Amyloidose: Suche nach dem idealen diagnostischen Verfahren

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Der kardialen Amyloidose (CA) liegt eine Amyloidablagerung im Myokard zugrunde. Transthyretin- (ATTR) und Leichtketten(AL)-Amyloidose sind die Hauptursachen der CA. Ziel der Autoren war es, klinische und bildgebende Befunde bei Patienten mit CA zu präsentieren und die entsprechenden Kontroversen mit dem Ziel darzustellen, das ideale Diagnoseinstrument zu erkennen.

Methoden

Es wurden 10 Patienten, bei denen die Verdachtsdiagnose CA aufgrund von Elektrokardiogramm (EKG) und Echokardiographie bestand, mittels kardiovaskulärer Magnetresonanzbildgebung (CMR; 1,5 T) mit Cine-Funktion, Beurteilung des Late Gadolinium Enhancement (LGE), T1-, T2-Mapping und Bestimmung der extrazellulären Volumenfraktion untersucht. Der Wert für NT-proBNP („N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide“) wurde ebenfalls bei allen gemessen.

Ergebnisse

Bei allen (n = 10) Patienten gab es in der Echokardiographie Hinweise auf CA. In der CMR wurde eine ventrikuläre Hypertrophie dokumentiert, die zu kleinen ventrikulären Volumina führte, was durch die Echokardiographie festgestellt wurde. Diffuses subendokardiales LGE, das für die Diagnose einer CA spricht, wurde bei allen mit Ausnahme eines Patienten, der subepikardiales LGE aufgrund einer Myokarditis aufwies, durch eine Endomyokardbiopsie (EMB) bestätigt. Eine rechtsventrikuläre (RV-)Beteiligung wurde bei 4/10 Patienten festgestellt, deren Zustand sich innerhalb der nächsten 6 Monate rasch verschlechterte. Der NT-proBNP-Spiegel war insgesamt >332 pg/ml, mit Ausnahme von 2 Patienten. Eine AL-Amyloidose wurde durch Fettgewebebiopsie bei 2/10 und durch Nierenbiopsie bei 1/10 Patienten identifiziert. Bei 2/10 Patienten mit positiver 99mTc-Szintigraphie wurde die Diagnose einer ATTR-Amyloidose durch die EMB bestätigt.

Schlussfolgerung

NT-proBNP ist möglicherweise ein sensitiver, aber nicht spezifischer Biomarker für die Beurteilung einer CA. Die CMR ist jedoch das einzige Bildgebungsverfahren, mit dem der pathophysiologische Hintergrund der Herzhypertrophie und der Schweregrad der CA unabhängig von den NT-proBNP-Spiegeln beurteilt werden kann.

Schlüsselwörter

Kardiale Amyloidose Kardiovaskuläre Magnetresonanztomographie N‑terminales proBNP Elektrokardiogramm Echokardiographie 
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Notes

Author Contribution

All authors read and approved the final manuscript. S.M: CMR scanning evaluation and manuscript writing; VV: Echo assessment and writing; A.N: Cardiac data assessment and writing; RV: Cardiac, echo and nuclear data assessment and writing; I.I: Cardiac data assessment and writing; MT: Biopsy data assessment and writing; E.K: Biopsy assessment; I.P: Coordination of echo assessment, manuscript writing; G.M.M: CMR image analysis and manuscript writing; M.N: Coordination of manuscript writing; G.K: Coordination of manuscript writing.

Compliance with ethical guidelines

Conflict of interest

S.I. Mavrogeni, V. Vartela, A. Ntalianis, R. Vretou, I. Ikonomidis, M. Tselegkidou, I. Paraskevaidis, G. Markousis-Mavrogenis, M. Noutsias, A. Rigopoulos, G. Kolovou and E. Kastritis declare that they have no competing interests.

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants or on human tissue were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1975 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards and have been approved by the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center ethics committee. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Copyright information

© Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sophie I. Mavrogeni
    • 1
    Email author
  • Vasiliki Vartela
    • 1
  • Argyrios Ntalianis
    • 2
  • Rosa Vretou
    • 3
  • Ignatios Ikonomidis
    • 3
  • Marini Tselegkidou
    • 2
  • Ioannis Paraskevaidis
    • 2
  • George Markousis-Mavrogenis
    • 1
  • Michel Noutsias
    • 4
  • Angelos Rigopoulos
    • 4
  • Genovefa Kolovou
    • 1
  • Efstathios Kastritis
    • 2
  1. 1.Onassis Cardiac Surgery CenterAthensGreece
  2. 2.Alexandra’s HospitalAthensGreece
  3. 3.Attikon HospitalAthensGreece
  4. 4.Mid-German Heart Center, Department of Internal Medicine III (KIM-III), Division of Cardiology, Angiology and Intensive Medical Care, University Hospital HalleMartin-Luther-University HalleHalle (Saale)Germany

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