What is an Evaluation?

Amyloid frequently involves more than one organ system. For this reason, The Amyloidosis Center on the Boston University Medical Campus offers a full evaluation for patients who have been diagnosed with amyloidosis.  This is a three day, outpatient evaluation comprised of a number of tests and consultations which will help determine your amyloid type and organ system involvement.  Patients are attentively guided through each step of the evaluation, with your physicians and nurses explaining why each test is being done and what the results mean. Once the evaluation is complete, a treatment plan is recommended.

During evaluation, the physicians of the Amyloidosis Center Clinical Team will take an abdominal fat biopsy. This is a standard part of evaluation, regardless of any prior biopsies, and is a simple and relatively painless procedure. After numbing a small area on the abdomen, a needle is used to remove some fat cells from under the skin. This is routinely done to confirm the diagnosis of amyloidosis, help to determine the type, and watch for disappearance of amyloid over time after treatment. Depending on the type of amyloid, it is probable that a bone marrow biopsy will be performed. This procedure and its purpose will be discussed with you should it be necessary.

At The Amyloidosis Center, many patients participate in a clinical study on amyloidosis. This means that the information on an individual’s amyloid disease is compared and added to that of other patients who have visited us. This is done in an effort to help researchers understand the causes and natural course of amyloidosis. It is the clinical study that keeps our knowledge of this disease growing consistently.