Cardiac amyloidosis: an approach to diagnosis and management.

Cardiac amyloidosis is a myocardial disease characterized by extracellular amyloid infiltration throughout the heart. Cardiac amyloidosis has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations but the most frequent presentation is heart failure. Differential diagnoses from other restrictive cardiomyopathies is important. A combination of clinical, electrocardiographic and imaging methods is commonly used to diagnose this disease. Definite diagnosis is based on endomyocardial biopsy and treatment of cardiac amyloidosis is a challenge. Heart transplantation, although controversial, has demonstrated survival benefit.