Cardiac Amyloidosis in a Patient with Multiple Myeloma: A Case Report and Review of Literature

We report a case of a 52-year-old man with multiple myeloma and rapidly progressive heart failure who died unexpectedly from a probable arrhythmia. Postmortem examination revealed infiltrative amyloid cardiomyopathy, a rare cause of predominantly diastolic myocardial disease. Cardiac amyloidosis should be considered in any patient presenting with congestive heart failure, preserved systolic function, and a discrepancy between a low QRS voltage on electrocardiography and an apparent left ventricular hypertrophy on sonogram. The pattern of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction changes during the course of amyloidosis and the classically described restrictive physiology occurs only in advanced stages of the disease. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound 37:179-184, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/jcu.20552