title: Severe heart failure from light chain cardiomyopathy (cardiac amyloidosis).
abstract: Primary (AL)amyloidosis is characterized by clonal production of immunoglobulin with subsequent deposition in several organs. We describe the clinical features of a 66-year old female who was referred to our department for congestive heart failure. One year before, she was examined and found to have diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle. We could evaluate the diagnosis of primary amyloid cardiomyopathy by echocardiography, Doppler echocardiography and laboratory findings and confirmed the diagnosis by biopsy of the rectum mucosa. Clinical outcome was poor, because therapy is poor.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, General Hospital Freistadt, Krankenhausstrasse 1, 4240 Freistadt, Austria.
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Hofer
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wimmer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001706:Biopsy; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000175:diagnosis; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004452:Echocardiography; D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains / Q000097:blood*; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D007147:Immunoglobulin Light Chains