Noninvasive mapping of the electrophysiological substrate in cardiac amyloidosis and its relationship to structural abnormalities
File(s)
OA Location
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
The relationship between structural pathology and electrophysiological substrate in cardiac amyloidosis is unclear. Differences between light‐chain (AL) and transthyretin (ATTR) cardiac amyloidosis may have prognostic implications.
Methods and Results
ECG imaging and cardiac magnetic resonance studies were conducted in 21 cardiac amyloidosis patients (11 AL and 10 ATTR). Healthy volunteers were included as controls. With respect to ATTR, AL patients had lower amyloid volume (51.0/37.7 versus 73.7/16.4 mL, P=0.04), lower myocardial cell volume (42.6/19.1 versus 58.5/17.2 mL, P=0.021), and higher T1 (1172/64 versus 1109/80 ms, P=0.022) and T2 (53.4/2.9 versus 50.0/3.1 ms, P=0.003). ECG imaging revealed differences between cardiac amyloidosis and control patients in virtually all conduction‐repolarization parameters. With respect to ATTR, AL patients had lower epicardial signal amplitude (1.07/0.46 versus 1.83/1.26 mV, P=0.026), greater epicardial signal fractionation (P=0.019), and slightly higher dispersion of repolarization (187.6/65 versus 158.3/40 ms, P=0.062). No significant difference between AL and ATTR patients was found using the standard 12‐lead ECG. T1 correlated with epicardial signal amplitude (cc=−0.78), and extracellular volume with epicardial signal fractionation (cc=0.48) and repolarization time (cc=0.43). Univariate models based on single features from both cardiac magnetic resonance and ECG imaging classified AL and ATTR patients with an accuracy of 70% to 80%.
Conclusions
In this exploratory study cardiac amyloidosis was associated with ventricular conduction and repolarization abnormalities, which were more pronounced in AL than in ATTR. Combined ECG imaging–cardiac magnetic resonance analysis supports the hypothesis that additional mechanisms beyond infiltration may contribute to myocardial damage in AL amyloidosis. Further studies are needed to assess the clinical impact of this approach.
The relationship between structural pathology and electrophysiological substrate in cardiac amyloidosis is unclear. Differences between light‐chain (AL) and transthyretin (ATTR) cardiac amyloidosis may have prognostic implications.
Methods and Results
ECG imaging and cardiac magnetic resonance studies were conducted in 21 cardiac amyloidosis patients (11 AL and 10 ATTR). Healthy volunteers were included as controls. With respect to ATTR, AL patients had lower amyloid volume (51.0/37.7 versus 73.7/16.4 mL, P=0.04), lower myocardial cell volume (42.6/19.1 versus 58.5/17.2 mL, P=0.021), and higher T1 (1172/64 versus 1109/80 ms, P=0.022) and T2 (53.4/2.9 versus 50.0/3.1 ms, P=0.003). ECG imaging revealed differences between cardiac amyloidosis and control patients in virtually all conduction‐repolarization parameters. With respect to ATTR, AL patients had lower epicardial signal amplitude (1.07/0.46 versus 1.83/1.26 mV, P=0.026), greater epicardial signal fractionation (P=0.019), and slightly higher dispersion of repolarization (187.6/65 versus 158.3/40 ms, P=0.062). No significant difference between AL and ATTR patients was found using the standard 12‐lead ECG. T1 correlated with epicardial signal amplitude (cc=−0.78), and extracellular volume with epicardial signal fractionation (cc=0.48) and repolarization time (cc=0.43). Univariate models based on single features from both cardiac magnetic resonance and ECG imaging classified AL and ATTR patients with an accuracy of 70% to 80%.
Conclusions
In this exploratory study cardiac amyloidosis was associated with ventricular conduction and repolarization abnormalities, which were more pronounced in AL than in ATTR. Combined ECG imaging–cardiac magnetic resonance analysis supports the hypothesis that additional mechanisms beyond infiltration may contribute to myocardial damage in AL amyloidosis. Further studies are needed to assess the clinical impact of this approach.
Date Issued
2019-09-17
Date Acceptance
2019-07-30
Citation
Journal of the American Heart Association, 2019, 8 (18)
ISSN
2047-9980
Publisher
American Heart Association
Journal / Book Title
Journal of the American Heart Association
Volume
8
Issue
18
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Sponsor
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Grant Number
RDC04
RDB02
Subjects
1102 Cardiorespiratory Medicine and Haematology
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e012097
Date Publish Online
2019-09-08