What are the stages of amyloidosis? What is end stage amyloidosis?

There is no universally accepted staging system for amyloidosis, since the disease can affect different organs in different ways, and its progression varies among persons.

One commonly used method to describe the severity of amyloidosis is the Mayo Clinic staging system, which is based on the degree of cardiac involvement in the disease.

According to this system, the stages of amyloidosis are Stage 1: No cardiac involvement, Stage 2: Mild cardiac involvement, Stage 3: Moderate cardiac involvement, and Stage 4: Severe cardiac involvement.

The Mayo 2004 staging system uses a TnT cutoff level of 0.035 mcg/L and NT-proBNP level of 332 ng/L to place AL amyloidosis patients into three groups: (1) stage I, normal levels of both, (2) stage II, an elevated level of either but not both, and (3) stage III, elevated levels of both.

End-stage amyloidosis refers to a late stage of the disease where it has progressed to the point where organ dysfunction is severe and life-threatening. In the end stages of cardiac amyloidosis, the severe symptoms of heart failure are likely including but not limited to Shortness of breath.