title: Amyloidosis.
abstract: Amyloidosis is considered rare but has an incidence similar to that of Hodgkin's disease and chronic granulocytic leukemia. The diagnosis should be considered in any patient with unexplained nephrotic-range proteinuria, heart failure, peripheral neuropathy, or hepatomegaly. If a monoclonal protein is found in a patient with any of these clinical presentations, a biopsy should be performed and the specimen stained with Congo red. The simplest source of diagnostic material is subcutaneous fat tissue. Treatment usually consists of chemotherapy, which may be oral and low dose or high dose with stem cell rescue.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology and Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gertz
authors.forename: M Q
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Lacy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dispenzieri
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000737:chemistry / Q000473:pathology; D000682:Amyloid / Q000032:analysis; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000266:history / Q000473:pathology; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000682:Amyloid