What does Amyloidosis with heart involvement mean?
It means the patient has “restrictive cardiomyopathy” which is rare in the United States and most other industrialized nations. In this disease, the walls of the ventricles stiffen and lose their flexibility due to infiltration by abnormal tissue such as amyloid deposits. As a result, the heart cannot fill adequately with blood and eventually loses its ability to pump properly. In the United States, restrictive cardiomyopathy is most commonly related to the following: amyloidosis, in which abnormal protein fibers (amyloid) accumulate in the heart’s muscle; sarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease that causes the formation of small lumps in organs; and hemochromatosis, an iron overload of the body, usually due to a genetic disease. Typical signs of the condition include symptoms of congestive heart failure: weakness, fatigue, and breathlessness. Swelling of the legs, caused by fluid retention, occurs in a significant number of patients. Other symptoms include nausea, bloating, and poor appe
