Management | Medibuddy
5th July 2026

Management

Medical management 

  • Broadly speaking, patients with symptomatic heart failure should be managed with loop diuretics for symptomatic relief and guideline-directed medical therapies (beta-blockers, ACEi/ARB/ARNi, MRA, SGLT2i). 
  • However, caution should be exercised when using beta-blockers and ACEi/ARB/ARNi in patients with cardiac amyloidosis, as these drugs are poorly tolerated due to hypotension and autonomic dysfunction. Withdrawal of these drugs may help to improve symptoms. 
  • All RCM patients with atrial fibrillation, in particular those with cardiac amyloidosis, should be started on oral anticoagulation irrespective of CHA2DS2-VA score due to a high risk of thromboembolism. 
  • Disease-modifying treatment for specific RCM phenotypes are listed in Table 4. Patients with bradyarrhythmias may benefit from pacemaker implantation as per guidance from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). 
RCM phenotypes Disease-specific therapies
Cardiac amyloidosis

  • AL amyloidosis
  • TTR cardiac amyloidosis
  • Chemotherapy containing bortezomib
  • Tafamidis (TTR gene stabiliser), patisiran and inotersen (RNA-interfering agents; approved for use in patients with hereditary TTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy)
Haemochromatosis
  • First line: venesection
  • Chelation therapy (desferrioxamine)
Sarcoidosis
  • First line: Corticosteroids
  • Steroid-sparing immunosuppressant drugs
Anderson-Fabry disease Agalsidase alfa
Glycogen storage disease type II (Pompe disease) Enzyme replacement therapy

Table 4: Selected RCM phenotypes and their respective disease-modifying therapies.

Surgical management

  • Heart Transplantation
    • Heart transplantation may be considered in end-stage RCM patients with refractory heart failure and poor prognosis despite optimal medical therapy. 
    • Pulmonary vascular resistance study can be used to guide the timing of transplantation.
  • ICDs
    • In select cases of RCM associated with severe ventricular arrhythmias or high risk of sudden cardiac death, ICDs may be considered for primary or secondary prevention.
    • Indicated in patients with sarcoidosis when a ventricular arrhythmia is detected
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