Amyloid in the Heart

Clinical Takeaway

: Two studies show that cardiac amyloidosis is more common than we thought.

Context

Cardiac amyloidosis is traditionally considered to be relatively uncommon. Now, investigators have assessed its prevalence in two unique studies — the first, an evaluation of atrial biopsy results among nearly 600 patients in Japan who underwent atrial fibrillation ablation and had no prior diagnosis of amyloidosis, and the second, a retrospective review of all 2000 autopsies conducted during a 10-year period at a single Swiss hospital.