Description of a Retrospective Cohort of Patients With Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) in Internal Medicine

In 2024, the prevalence of TTR cardiac amyloidosis is difficult to determine precisely. Indeed, the disease has long been underdiagnosed due to a lack of effective treatment and non-invasive diagnostic methods. The prevalence of ATTRwt is estimated at 155 to 191 cases per million person-years, with an incidence of 36 cases per million person-years. Both incidence and prevalence increase with age.

The most common presentation of TTR cardiac amyloidosis is heart failure with preserved ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).

The natural history of TTR cardiac amyloidosis is progression to restrictive heart disease with all the complications described above.

The median time between diagnosis and the first cardiac symptoms was 39 months. Currently, the median survival in France is approximately 3.5 years, but survival appears to be improving, with a mortality rate of 73.5% at 30 months between 2002 and 2006, compared to 15% at 60 months between 2017 and 2022.

The number of patients diagnosed with TTR cardiac amyloidosis appears to be increasing. The overwhelming majority of available data concerns patients treated in cardiology. However, the issue of TTR cardiac amyloidosis concerns all specialists caring for patients with heart failure, particularly in internal medicine due to the high number of admissions from emergency departments, with a significant proportion of patients suffering from cardiac decompensation.