Screening for Cardiac Amyloidosis with Nuclear Cardiology for Minority Populations
In this study, the investigators will recruit a cohort of elderly Black and Hispanic patients with heart failure to define the number of patients who have cardiac amyloidosis by utilizing highly sensitive heart imaging and blood tests. The investigators will also explore differences in genetics and sex as they relate to heart failure disease progression in cardiac amyloidosis.
• Black or Hispanic of Caribbean origin.
• Age ≥ 60 years.
• Diagnosis of heart failure, confirmed by one of two methods:
‣ Modified criteria utilized by Rich et al. which include a history of acute pulmonary edema or the occurrence of at least two of the following that improved with diuretic therapy without another identifiable cause: dyspnea on exertion, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, orthopnea, bilateral lower extremity edema or exertional fatigue, and
⁃ National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) congestive heart failure (CHF) criteria with a score ≥3.
• Left ventricular septal OR inferolateral wall thickness ≥12 mm by echocardiography.
• Left ventricular Ejection fraction \>30% by echocardiography.
• Able to understand and sign the informed consent document after the nature of the study has been fully explained.