Pulmonary presentations of amyloidosis.
Respiratory tract involvement with amyloid is rare. We report eight cases of lower respiratory tract amyloidosis including a case of isolated pulmonary interstitial amyloidosis treated with chemotherapy, two cases of recurrent endobronchial amyloid with airway obstruction successfully treated with laser therapy and three cases of localized nodular pulmonary amyloidosis. The subjects with endobronchial and nodular amyloid demonstrated good long-term survival, while those with systemic or interstitial pulmonary amyloid had progressive disease and poor survival. Circulating monoclonal immunoglobulins were identified in five of the eight cases as the likely cause of the amyloid.
Department of Respiratory Medicine, Austin Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia. m.howard@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
M E
ME
Howard
J
J
Ireton
F
F
Daniels
D
D
Langton
N D
ND
Manolitsas
P
P
Fogarty
C F
CF
McDonald
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D000686:Amyloidosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D001982:Bronchial Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009101:Multiple Myeloma / Q000473:pathology; D010265:Paraproteinemias / Q000473:pathology