Tag Archives: cardiac amyloidosis

Early Investigator Award The audience was treated to an impressive rapid-fire round with the three finalists for the Early Investigator Award, led by the judging panel; Dr Brian Halliday (Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals, London), Dr Rosita Zakeri (King’s College Hospital, London) and Rhys Williams (Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Bridgend). Clinical research fellow, Dr Sarah Birkhoelzer (Oxford University) presented her work on the IRON-HEART study, which aimed to determine the impact of iron repletion on cardiac and skeletal muscle energetics in patients with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy with reduced ejection fraction. S

Prevalence Among patients with a diagnosis of heart failure (HF), it is reported that up to 40-50% may have HFpEF.1 HFpEF also accounts for an increasing proportion of HF-related hospitalisations.2 There is a strong association between HFpEF, older age, and cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular comorbidities. As life expectancy and comorbidity rates rise, the proportion of HF patients with HFpEF and resulting impact of HFpEF on healthcare services is projected to increase. Clinical presentation Patients with HFpEF experience similar symptoms and signs to patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), including breathlessness, fatig

Case presentation An 83-year-old man presented with progressive shortness of breath and moderate lower extremity oedema over a period of several months. His past medical history is notable for hypertension, non-insulin dependent diabetes, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and aortic stenosis. At the time of presentation he was found to have new-onset atrial flutter with rapid ventricular response. An echocardiogram demonstrated moderate concentric left ventricular hypertrophy and moderate aortic stenosis with an ejection fraction of 55% and mildly reduced right ventricular function. A left heart catheterisation confirmed the presence of modera

Figure 1. Transthoracic echocardiogram, apical four-chamber view, shows a large mobile 3.2 x 1.7 cm mass (arrow) protruding from the left atrial appendage, consistent with mural thrombus A transthoracic echocardiogram showed a large mobile mass 3.2 x 1.7 cm protruding from left atrial appendage, consistent with mural thrombus (figure 1). Concentric left ventricular wall and right ventricular free-wall thickening with a granular, ‘sparkling’ appearance of the myocardium was noticed. The left ventricle (LV) was globally hypokinetic with a reduced LV ejection fraction of 40%. There was thickening of the cardiac valves and atrial septum, dila