How is AL Amyloidosis diagnosed?
There are a number of tests to confirm the diagnosis and investigate the extent of the disease. These include: • Bone marrow samples (to check for presence of abnormal plasma cells) • Blood and urine tests (to check for evidence of abnormal proteins) • Organ tissue biopsies (to check for presence of amyloid fibril deposits) • SAP scans (a scan which can detect amyloid fibril deposits in the body) • Echocardiograms and ECGs (to check the function of the heart) A new more sensitive test called the serum free light chain assay has been shown to be effective in the diagnosis and monitoring of AL amyloidosis.
