Mechanisms of left ventricular systolic dysfunction in light chain amyloidosis: a multiparametric cardiac MRI study.

Background: Cardiac systolic dysfunction is a poor prognostic marker in light-chain (AL) cardiomyopathy, a primary interstitial disorder; however, its pathogenesis is poorly understood.
Purpose: This study aims to analyze the effects of extracellular volume (ECV) expansion, a surrogate marker of amyloid burden on myocardial blood flow (MBF), myocardial work efficiency (MWE), and left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction in AL amyloidosis.
Methods: Subjects with biopsy-proven AL amyloidosis were prospectively enrolled (April 2016-June 2021; Clinicaltrials.gov ID NCT02641145) and underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to quantify rest MBF by perfusion imaging, LV ejection fraction (LVEF) by cine MRI, and ECV by pre- and post-contrast T1 mapping. The MWE was estimated as external cardiac work from the stroke volume and mean arterial pressure normalized to the LV myocardial mass.
Results: Rest MBF in 92 subjects (62 ± 8 years, 52 men) with AL amyloidosis averaged 0.87 ± 0.21 ml/min/g and correlated with MWE ( r  = 0.42; p  < 0.001). Rest MBF was similarly low in subjects with sustained hematologic remission after successful AL amyloidosis therapy ( n  = 21), as in those with recently diagnosed AL amyloidosis. Both MBF and MWE decreased by ECV tertile ( p  < 0.01 for linear trends). The association of ECV with MWE comprised a direct effect (84% of the total effect; p  < 0.001) on MWE from adverse interstitial remodeling assessed by ECV and an indirect effect (16% of the total effect; p  < 0.001) mediated by MBF. There was a significant base-to-apex gradient of rest MBF in subjects with higher amyloid burden.
Conclusions: In AL amyloidosis, both MBF and MWE decrease as cardiac amyloid burden and ECV expansion increase. Both structural and vascular changes from ECV expansion and myocardial amyloid burden appear to contribute to lower MWE.
Competing Interests: SC: investigator—initiated a research grant from Pfizer. FR: consulting fees—Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Attralus; research support—Pfizer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Akcea Therapeutics. MDC: research grant—Spectrum Dynamics and Gilead; consulting fees—Sanofi and GE HealthCare. RF: consulting fees—Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, and Caelum Biosciences; research funding—GlaxoSmithKline and Akcea. SD: consulting fees—Pfizer, GE HealthCare, and AstraZeneca; investigator—initiated a grant from Pfizer, Attralus, Phillips, and Siemens. OC: research fellowship from the International Society of Amyloidosis and Pfizer. AY: consulting fees—AbbVie, Adaptive Biotechnologies, Amgen, BMS, Celgene, GSK Janssen, Karyopharm, Oncopeptides, Regeneron, Sanofi, and Takeda. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(© 2024 Katznelson, Jerosch-Herold, Cuddy, Clerc, Benz, Taylor, Rao, Kijewski, Liao, Landau, Yee, Ruberg, Di Carli, Falk, Kwong and Dorbala.)