Survival in transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy : a review

Abstract

Transthyretin-associated familial amyloid polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP) is a neurological disease that affects severely patients and their families and caregivers over generations. It is a rare, progressive, and if untreated fatal autosomal dominant hereditary disorder. The disease may affect multiple organ systems and if untreated progress rapidly to death. TTR-FAP affects nearly 10,000 people worldwide, with known endemic regions in Portugal, Sweden, and Japan. Until recently only liver transplantation and tafamidis were treatment options across several world regions. Despite the worldwide use of these disease-modifying treatments to delay disease progression, challenges in clinical assessment and management remain because of disease heterogeneity, phenotypic diversity, small patient populations, incomplete natural history and uncertainty of treatment effect in survival. The two new treatment options (inotersen and patisiran) appear to provide important benefits for patients, based on clinical trials short-term evidence. In this review, we discuss the disease natural survival course and currently available treatments impact on survival. We also discuss the importance of treatment choice (and or sequence of treatments) to maximize survival, while preserving the patient’s health-related quality of life.