Initial outpatient consultations can be scheduled at office locations in Alexandria, Fairfax or Loudoun. To schedule, call 703-766-5847 or email amyloid@inova.org.
Locations and how to schedule
A team of experts focused on specialized care
The Inova Amyloidosis Program provides comprehensive management of this complex, multifaceted condition. Once considered rare, understanding of amyloidosis has evolved with recent advancements in diagnostic tools, revealing it as is more common than previously thought.
Inova’s coordinated approach to a multifaceted condition
We help patients navigate this condition using a multispecialty, coordinated approach, ensuring that patients have access to the care and support they need. The Inova Amyloidosis Program focuses on comprehensive patient care, facilitated by a patient care coordinator who ensures efficient arrangements for all necessary tests and consultations. The coordinator works closely with the program physicians to ensure integration of results that capture all dimensions of a patient’s condition and results in an organized plan of care.
Considering the potential role in heart failure, the program works closely with Inova's advanced heart failure team. This multifaceted approach is supported by a multispecialty team, including specialists in:
- Cardiology
- Advanced heart failure
- Cardiac imaging
- Neurology
- Nephrology
- Hematology/oncology
- Palliative care
- Pathology
Diagnosis
Most often laboratory tests and imagining can lead to the diagnosis, rarely requiring a biopsy.
Treatment options
Cardiac amyloidosis is dominated by two types: AL, which can be seen with hematologic malignancies such as multiple myeloma requiring chemotherapy. More often, it involves a protein (transthyretin, or TTR for short), which can be associated with age or an inherited condition. Although amyloidosis lacks a definitive cure, a range of treatments depends on the involvement of the specific organ.
Heart medications: Cardiologists will use specific cardiac medications to treat and control symptoms if the heart is impacted.
TTR Targeted therapies: Medications such as tafamidis (Vyndamax®, Vyndaqel®) are oral agents that improve survival by stabilizing protein fragments in the bloodstream, preventing their conversion into amyloid deposits. It is not uncommon for amyloidosis to spread to the nerves, which also has targeted therapies. Specific amyloidosis variants benefit from gene silencers patisiran (Onpattro®), vutrisiran (Amvuttra®), and inotersen (Tegsedi®), which are FDA-approved for neuropathy and interfere with faulty gene commands contributing to amyloid creation.
The chemotherapy medication Daratumumab (Darzalex®) is utilized in light-chain amyloidosis to halt the growth of abnormal cells responsible for producing amyloid-forming proteins.
TTR Targeted therapies: Medications such as tafamidis (Vyndamax®, Vyndaqel®) and acoramidis (Attruby™)are oral agents that improve survival by stabilizing protein fragments in the bloodstream, preventing their conversion into amyloid deposits. It is not uncommon for amyloidosis to spread to the nerves, which also has targeted therapies. Specific amyloidosis variants benefit from gene silencers patisiran (Onpattro®), vutrisiran (Amvuttra®), and inotersen (Tegsedi®), which are FDA-approved for neuropathy and interfere with faulty gene commands contributing to amyloid creation.
Other organs such as kidney, GI or bone marrow require their own therapies. Inova has access to advanced chemotherapy and autologous blood stem cell transplants, organ transplantation and dialysis.