ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Cardiac amyloidosis is a systemic disorder that affects the heart and can also affect other organs such as the kidneys and nervous system. AdventHealth says approximately 50-150,000 people in the U.S. have systemic amyloidosis. Patients are now being identified earlier than ever, and new drugs approved by the FDA are prolonging their lives significantly.
In the past, if you got a diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis, your options were very limited.
“There was actually no treatment to slow down the process or the progression of the disease. The only treatment that was successful was a heart-liver transplant,” said Marcos S. Hazday, MD, medical director of inherited & acquired cardiomyopathies at the AdventHealth Heart, Lung, and Vascular Institute.
It is a progressive condition when a protein builds up in the heart muscle and its surrounding tissues, causing them to stiffen and weaken. Until recently, the New York Times called it a death sentence, but…
“In the past year, we have more drugs FDA-approved,” Dr. Hazday told Ivanhoe.
These medications are called TTR silencers, which shut down the production of the proteins in the liver.
“Adverse major cardiac events are reduced, hospitalizations are reduced, and I already see it in my clinic,” explained Dr. Hazday.
But he says the big change that needs to happen is identifying cardiac amyloidosis earlier, which has been difficult in the past.
“That’s why the numbers are increasing in their recognition, because now we know that congestive heart failure in patients who have preserved systolic function and a thick heart, most likely, or in addition to hypertension or other diseases that cause a thick heart, could be amyloidosis,” said Dr. Hazday.
More awareness means more treatment faster, so people die with amyloidosis, instead of from it.
Dr. Hazday emphasizes that cardiac amyloidosis is not due to lifestyle choices. It can be hereditary, but it is most commonly from aging, called wild-type, which usually manifests in someone’s late 70s & early 80s. While congestive heart failure is the easiest symptom to identify, other symptoms include carpal tunnel syndrome, neuropathy, renal failure, and glaucoma.
Contributors to this news report include: Marcy Wilder, Associate Producer; Shay Goldschmidt, Videographer; Chuck Bennethum, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/well/cardiac-amyloidosis.html
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22598-cardiac-amyloidosis
* For More Information, Contact: Tom Johnson
External Communications Manager at AdventHealth
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