Background—Cardiac transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis is a progressive and fatal cardiomyopathy for which several promising therapies are in development. The diagnosis is frequently delayed or missed due to limited specificity of echocardiography and the traditional requirement for histologic confirmation. It has long been recognised that technetium labelled bone scintigraphy tracers can localise to myocardial amyloid deposits and use of this imaging modality for diagnosis of cardiac ATTR amyloidosis has lately been revisited. We conducted a multicentre study to ascertain the diagnostic value of bone scintigraphy in this disease.

Key Points: A staging system based on proteinuria and glomerular filtration rate discriminates patients at different risk of progression to dialysis. Changes in proteinuria and glomerular filtration rate allow early assessment of renal response to therapy.

Key Points: Deep clonal responses improve outcomes and can change the natural history of advanced (cardiac stage III) AL amyloidosis. NT-proBNP >8500 ng/L and SBP <100 mm Hg identify a very poor risk subgroup of stage III AL amyloidosis.

Key Points: CyBorD achieves excellent outcome in noncardiac patients with AL amyloidosis and can rescue subjects with reversible heart damage. The outcome of high-risk patients remains poor, but response to CyBorD can also improve survival in this group.

In light-chain (AL) amyloidosis, prognosis is dictated by cardiac dysfunction. N-terminal natriuretic peptide type B (NT-proBNP) and cardiac troponins (cTn) are used to assess the severity of cardiac damage. We evaluated the prognostic relevance of a high-sensitivity (hs) cTnT assay, NT-proBNP, and cardiac troponin I in 171 consecutive patients with AL amyloidosis at presentation and 6 months after treatment. Response and progression of NT-proBNP were defined as more than 30% and more than 300 ng/L changes. All 3 markers predicted survival, but the best multivariable model included hs-cTnT. The hs-cTnT prognostic cutoff was 77 ng/L (median survival 10.6 months for patients with hs-cTnT above the cutoff). After treatment, response and progression of NT-proBNP and a more than 75% increase of hs-cTnT were independent prognostic determinant. In AL amyloidosis, hs-cTnT is the best baseline prognostic marker. Therapy should be aimed at preventing progression of cardiac biomarkers, whereas NT-proBNP response confers an additional survival benefit.

Amyloidosis is a disorder caused by misfolding of autologous protein and its extracellular deposition as fibrils, resulting in vital organ dysfunction and eventually death. Pulmonary amyloidosis may be localised or part of systemic amyloidosis.Pulmonary interstitial amyloidosis is symptomatic only if the amyloid deposits severely affect gas exchange alveolar structure, thus resulting in serious respiratory impairment. Localised parenchymal involvement may be present as nodular amyloidosis or as amyloid deposits associated with localised lymphomas. Finally, tracheobronchial amyloidosis, which is usually not associated with evident clonal proliferation, may result in airway stenosis.Because the treatment options for amyloidosis are dependent on the fibril protein type, the workup of all new cases should include accurate determination of the amyloid protein. Most cases are asymptomatic and need only a careful follow-up. Diffuse alveolar-septal amyloidosis is treated according to the underlying systemic amyloidosis. Nodular pulmonary amyloidosis is usually localised, conservative excision is usually curative and the long-term prognosis is excellent. Tracheobronchial amyloidosis is usually treated with bronchoscopic interventions or external beam radiation therapy.