Cardiac Amyloidosis Outpatient Clinic – AmyLab

Cardiac Amyloidosis Outpatient Clinic – AmyLab

Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine Unit

Contact person Dr. Giuseppe Vergaro

Unit Director Prof. Michele Emdin

Cardiac amyloidosis is a group of diseases characterised by the build-up in the interstitial space of amorphous material consisting of amyloid fibrils and which, until recently, was considered rare, with scant therapeutic prospects and a poor prognosis. However, for both forms of amyloidosis most frequently associated with cardiac involvement, i.e. immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis and transthyretin amyloidosis in its wild type and mutated forms, there has been a considerable increase in diagnostic capabilities in recent years, which have disproved the widespread notion of amyloidosis as a rare disease. The diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis requires a multidisciplinary approach, the use of advanced imaging, including nuclear medicine and magnetic resonance imaging methods, and sometimes invasive investigations such as peripheral or endomyocardial biopsy. In relation to the availability of effective therapeutic tools, early diagnosis can change the natural history of the disease.

The Cardiac Amyloidosis Clinic (AmyLab) has been created for patients referred by Doctors inside or outside the Monasterio with a clinical suspicion of cardiac involvement due to amyloidosis. The purpose of the outpatient clinic is to organise and standardise the approach to patients with amyloidosis, as well as to provide a formal referral channel for diagnostic classification and possible inclusion in observational protocols or drug trials.
All patients undergo complete and comprehensive initial biohumoral investigations, an electrocardiogram, and an echocardiogram. On the basis of the results of the initial assessment, any further diagnostic investigations will then be planned, in collaboration with the Nuclear Physicians, the imaging experts at the Monasterio Foundation and, if necessary, with our Haematology colleagues, and, if the clinical suspicion is confirmed, the specific therapy will be implemented.

amiloidosi@ftgm.it