Cardiac Amyloidosis

What is Cardiac Amyloidosis?

Cardiac Amyloidosis is a heart condition that affects the heart’s ability to pump blood. This is caused by a protein, known as amyloid, that builds up in your heart muscle. This condition can lead to abnormal heart beats (arrhythmias) and broken heart signals (heart block).

Amyloidosis is a chronic condition in which abnormal proteins, called amyloid, deposit in various internal organs. These deposits can build up and affect organ function, causing symptoms.

What to expect during a visit

The clinic provides multidisciplinary (Cardiologist, Registered Nurse, Pharmacist) patient care assessment, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up for patients suspected or diagnosed with amyloidosis with heart involvement. Main goals of treatment is to:

• To reduce the symptoms caused by the amyloid deposits.
• To prevent further deposits from building up in the affected organs.

During a visit to our clinic, you can expect us to:

• Discuss your diagnosis and treatment plan in detail.
• Monitor your heart and general health.
• Arrange for various heart tests.
• Review your medications and treatments, adjusting them if needed.
• Teach you how to manage your heart condition and keep you as healthy as possible.
• Support you and your family in making changes in your life to improve our health.
• Regularly update your family doctor and specialist on your condition.
• Up to date information on research or clinical trials specific to Amyloidosis.

How to prepare for my first visit

Try to arrive at least 15 minutes early for our appointment and plan on being in the clinic up to 1 hour. Bring the following with you:

• Your BC Card Card.
• All your medications in their original containers or up to date pharmacy list.