title: Systemic amyloidosis. A report of 19 cases.
abstract: Systemic amyloidosis is a rare disorder and usually occurs in aged persons with a poor prognosis. Certain mucocutaneous symptoms and signs may act as important clues for diagnosis. Skin or tongue biopsy may also provide important information to establish a firm diagnosis. During the past 14-year period, we found 19 cases of systemic amyloidoses: 8 (42%) with primary systemic amyloidosis, 8 (42%) associated with multiple myeloma and 3 (16%) were secondary amyloidosis. Ages of the patients ranged from 52 to 71 years with a mean age of 62 years at diagnosis. Median survival was only 8 months. Mucocutaneous manifestations were found in both primary type and myeloma-associated amyloidosis. In addition to the existence of amyloid in tongue and rectum biopsies in 17 cases and abdominal fat aspiration in 1 case, biopsies from clinically normal-looking skin also showed positive results in 18 out of 19 cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000150:complications; D015996:Survival Rate