Amyloid deposits in prostate biopsy as an opportunity to diagnose early cardiac amyloidosis

The diagnostic delay of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) is known to be substantially long. A prolonged time from symptoms onset to diagnosis negatively impacts quality of life and life expectancy of the affected patients. We aim to describe the role of the incidental finding of amyloid deposits in prostatic tissue as an early marker of CA.

A systematic cardiological evaluation, comprising ECG, echocardiogram and 99mTc-DPD scintigraphy, was offered to a cohort of 19 patients with incidental prostatic amyloidosis (PA) findings, propectively detected between 2014–2023, to assess cardiac involvement.

The median age of the patients was 80.2 years (IQR: 74.9 –82.6 years). Histopathological study revealed amyloid deposits within the walls of small vessels (predominantly small arteries) in 18 patients and mainly in the stroma in the remaining case. All of them were immunohistochemically positive for transthyretin (ATTR) except one patient, with known myeloma, which was unconclusive fo ATTR. Clonal dyscrasia was excluded in the rest of the patients. Thirteen patients (68.4%) underwent all cardiological tests, 4 patients (21.1%) underwent only ECG and echocardiographic evaluation and two patients (10.5%) refused to undergo any cardiological study. Among 13 individuals undergoing the complete evaluation, six patients were eventually diagnosed with CA (46.15%). All of them were asymptomatic from a cardiovascular point of view at the time of the prostate biopsy.

The finding of PA should prompt a complete cardiovascular examination, given the significant percentage of patients eventually diagnosed with early-stage CA. Multidisciplinary collaboration among different medical specialists must be encouraged, given the potential clinical impact of CA early diagnosis.