Role of echocardiography in assessing cardiac amyloidoses: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Medical Imaging
• Systemic Amyloidosis

Background:

• Cardiac amyloidosis involves increased left-ventricular (LV) wall thickness and often presents with diastolic dysfunction.
• Systemic amyloidoses can lead to congestive heart failure, with systolic dysfunction appearing in later stages.
• Echocardiography is a key noninvasive tool for evaluating cardiac structure and function in these patients.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review advancements in echocardiography for diagnosing and managing cardiac amyloidosis.
• To highlight the prognostic value of echocardiographic indices in systemic amyloidoses.
• To explore future echocardiographic techniques for improved cardiac assessment.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on echocardiography in cardiac amyloidosis.
• Analysis of echocardiographic indices for assessing LV morphology and function.
• Discussion of prognostic indicators, including LV longitudinal function and myocardial integrated backscatter.

Main Results:

• Echocardiography is effective for assessing cardiac morphology and function in cardiac amyloidosis.
• Specific echocardiographic indices demonstrate prognostic value for amyloidoses.
• LV longitudinal function and myocardial integrated backscatter variation appear to be strong predictors of adverse outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Echocardiography plays a crucial role in the diagnosis and management of cardiac amyloidosis.
• LV longitudinal function and myocardial integrated backscatter are significant prognostic markers.
• Emerging echocardiographic techniques, like automated interpretation, promise enhanced cardiac function and prognosis assessment.