Cardiac amyloidosis (patient information)
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What is cardiac amyloidosis?
How do I know if I have cardiac amyloidosis and what are the symptoms of cardiac amyloidosis?
Most patients with cardiac amyloidosis may experience symptoms restrictive cardiomyopathy. While other may show no symptoms.
- Palpitations
- Shortness of breath, orthopnea
- Fatigue
- Increased nocturia
- Swelling of legs, ankles, or other part of the body
Who is at risk for cardiac amyloidosis?
Amyloidosis refers to a buildup of clumps of amyloids in body tissues and organs. These proteins called amyloids slowly replace normal tissue and resuly in organ function failure. Amyloidosis often occurs on patients with the following characteristics:
- Multiple myeloma: Cardiac amyloidosis usually occurs in patients with multiple myeloma.
- Male gender: Cardiac amyloidosis is more common in men than in women.
- Age over 40: The disease is rare in people under age 40.
How to know you have cardiac amyloidosis?
- ECG
- Echocardiogram
- Chest x-ray
- Thoracoabdominal CT scan
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Nuclear heart scans
- Coronary angiography
- Cardiac biopsy
When to seek urgent medical care?
Treatment options
Diseases with similar symptoms
Where to find medical care for cardiac amyloidosis?
Directions to Hospitals Treating cardiac amyloidosis
Prevention of cardiac amyloidosis
What to expect (Outlook/Prognosis)?
Copyleft Sources
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000193.htm
http://www.umm.edu/ency/article/000193.htm
http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/cardiac-amyloidosis-dictionary.htm