Case Presentation of Patients Using the Cardiac Amyloidosis Pathway
摘要
Our team developed and published in late 2023 a novel and simple pathway to help health care providers diagnose and treat patients with cardiac amyloidosis. In the book of “Cardiac Amyloidosis” we have updated and modified this pathway. The pathway starts with a section titled “suspicion” in which we provide simple clues or “red flags” that are associated with the cardiac amyloidosis phenotype. It is followed by a section titled “diagnosis,” where we present in a simplified 2 × 2 format the laboratory and imaging tests that must be performed for an accurate diagnosis. In the section titled “treatment,” we describe the 4 pillars in the management of patients with cardiac amyloidosis, which include: heart failure treatments, management of arrhythmias, treatment of significant aortic stenosis, and appropriate selection of disease modifying therapies. Our algorithm ends with our simplified recommendation for follow-up. In this chapter we present the same pathway with 14 steps to guide health care providers in managing patients with cardiac amyloidosis. We present 6 cases of patients diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis. These cases illustrate clinical application of the cardiac amyloidosis pathway, and illustrate the process of suspicion, diagnosis, treatment and follow up of patients with cardiac amyloidosis.