Not high BP, not blockages, not even heart attack: Cardiologist warns of a silent, underdiagnosed culprit that shuts heart down from the inside out

In a recent post that has caught the attention, Dr. Dmitry Yaranov, a U.S.-based cardiologist known on Instagram as @heart_transplant_doc, warned of an often-overlooked cause of heart failure — amyloidosis, a protein-related condition that he says “shuts the heart down from the inside out.”

Dr. Yaranov, who directs the Advanced Heart Failure Program at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, shared that while most people associate heart failure with blocked arteries, hypertension, or heart attacks, amyloidosis is a more insidious culprit that often goes undetected for years.

“Not Rare; Just Rarely Diagnosed”
In his post, Dr. Yaranov wrote, “It’s not blocked arteries. Not high blood pressure. Not a heart attack. It’s amyloidosis — a protein that infiltrates the heart, stiffens it, and gradually shuts it down from the inside out.”

The condition occurs when abnormal proteins called amyloids build up in the heart tissue, making it rigid and less able to pump blood efficiently. Symptoms can mimic other common ailments, leading to frequent misdiagnosis.

According to Yaranov, many patients are told their fatigue or back pain is due to age or hypertension. “They bounce from clinic to clinic while the heart quietly declines,” he noted, emphasizing that subtle clues — such as thickened heart walls on echocardiograms, low voltage on EKGs, carpal tunnel syndrome, or unexplained fatigue — can point toward the condition.

Why Early Diagnosis Matters
Dr. Yaranov cautioned that by the time amyloidosis is correctly identified, it is often too late to reverse the damage. “This isn’t rare. It’s just rarely diagnosed,” he wrote, urging both patients and clinicians to be vigilant.

Medical experts agree that early detection is key. While treatments exist to slow or manage the disease, delays in diagnosis can lead to irreversible heart damage or even heart failure.