Isolated atrial amyloidosis: a clinicopathologic study indicating increased prevalence in chronic heart disease

Congo red screening of 211 consecutive cardiac biopsy specimens obtained during cardiac surgery from 167 patients revealed 26 (16%) instances of isolated atrial amyloidosis (IAA). The ages of IAA-positive patients ranged from 25 to 52 years (mean age, 39 years). Twenty-three (88%) IAA-positive biopsy specimens were from patients with chronic rheumatic heart disease (CRHD) while three (12%) were from patients with an atrial septal defect (ASD). The prevalence of IAA in the CRHD patients was 23%, appreciably higher than that in the ASD patients (15%) and in other patients with atrial biopsies. The prevalence of IAA in both CRHD and ASD patients was significantly higher (P < .001) than in controls. Controls consisted of 247 healthy adults who were autopsied after traumatic deaths, with an age range of 18 to 89 years (mean age, 38 years). Only seven (3%) control subjects were IAA positive; all were over 40 years of age. Isolated atrial amyloidosis deposits were permanganate resistant and immunohistochemically positive for human amyloid P (AP) protein and negative for human amyloid-associated (AA) protein and immunoglobulin light chains. They were observed as fine congophilic and birefringent deposits in intramyocardial vessel walls, along the myocardial sarcolemma, and in the subendocardium. There was associated myocyte hypertrophy but no atrophy. Electron microscopy demonstrated typical nonbranching amyloid fibrils. It is postulated that stretching of the atria in chronic heart disease results in a raised prevalence of IAA. Recent reports that IAA contains atrial natriuretic peptide, a polypeptide hormone product of atrial myocytes, supports this view.