Pulmonary 99mTc-HMDP uptake correlates with restrictive ventilatory defects and abnormal lung reactance in transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis patients

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary involvement in individuals with transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis is unclear. The aim of this study was to quantify (99m)Tc-hydroxy methylene diphosphonate (HMDP) lung retention in hereditary transthyretin (ATTRv) cardiac amyloidosis patients and to relate tracer uptake intensity to pulmonary function and aerobic capacity. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled 20 patients with biopsy-proven ATTRv cardiac amyloidosis and 20 control subjects. Cardiac involvement was confirmed by echocardiography and nuclear imaging using (99m)Tc-HMDP. Semi-quantitative analysis of the heart, rib and lung retention was assessed using a simple region of interest technique. Pulmonary function was evaluation by the means of whole-body plethysmography, diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, forced oscillation technique and cardiopulmonary exercise testing. RESULTS: Pulmonary tracer uptake estimated by lung to rib retention ratio was higher in ATTRv amyloidosis patients compared with control subjects: median 0.62 (0.55–0.69) vs 0.51 (0.46–0.60); p = 0.014. Analysis of relation between lung (99m)Tc-HMDP retention and pulmonary function parameters shown statistically significant correlations with total lung volume (% predicted), lung reactance (X(rs) 5 Hz) and peak VO(2), suggesting total lung capacity restriction impaired elastic properties of the lung and poor aerobic capacity. CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that some grade of pulmonary retention of (99m)Tc-HMDP may occur in patients with cardiac ATTRv amyloidosis, which can elicit deleterious effects on patient’s lung function and aerobic capacity. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12931-022-01995-x.