Impact of tafamidis on myocardial function and CMR tissue characteristics in transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy

AimsTafamidis improves clinical outcomes in transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), yet how tafamidis affects cardiac structure and function remains poorly described. This study prospectively analysed the effect of tafamidis on 12-month longitudinal changes in cardiac structure and function by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) compared with the natural course of disease in an untreated historic control cohort. Methods and resultsATTR-CM patients underwent CMR at tafamidis initiation and at 12 months. Untreated patients with serial CMRs served as reference to compare biventricular function, global longitudinal strain (GLS), LV mass and extracellular volume fraction (ECV). Thirty-six tafamidis-treated (n = 35; 97.1% male) and 15 untreated patients (n = 14; 93.3% male) with a mean age of 78.3 +/- 6.5 and 76.9 +/- 6.5, respectively, and comparable baseline characteristics were included. Tafamidis was associated with preserving biventricular function (LVEF (%): 50.5 +/- 12 to 50.7 +/- 11.5, P = 0.87; RVEF (%): 48.2 +/- 10.4 to 48.2 +/- 9.4, P = 0.99) and LV-GLS (-9.6 +/- 3.2 to -9.9 +/- 2.4%; P = 0.595) at 12 months, while a significantly reduced RV-function (50.8 +/- 7.3 to 44.2 +/- 11.6%, P = 0.028; P (change over time between groups) = 0.032) and numerically worsening LVGLS (-10.9 +/- 3.3 to -9.1 +/- 2.9%, P = 0.097; P (change over time between groups) = 0.048) was observed without treatment. LV mass significantly declined with tafamidis (184.7 +/- 47.7 to 176.5 +/- 44.3 g; P = 0.011), yet remained unchanged in untreated patients (163.8 +/- 47.5 to 171.2 +/- 39.7 g P = 0.356, P (change over time between groups) = 0.027). Irrespective of tafamidis, ECV and native T1-mapping did not change significantly from baseline to 12-month follow-up (P > 0.05). ConclusionsCompared with untreated ATTR-CM patients, initiation of tafamidis preserved CMR-measured biventricular function and reduced LV mass at 12 months. ECV and native T1-mapping did not change significantly comparable to baseline in both groups.