Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia with generalized amyloidosis

Abstract

Generalized amyloidosis was reported very infrequently as a complication of WaldenstrOm''s macroglobulinemia. A comparative study of the present case report with the 11 other known cases of this association shows that a variety of clinical courses and different types and degrees of pathological involvement can occur in such cases. The pathogenesis and the possible relationships between these 2 conditions are explained within the context of the wide spectrum of disease states caused by proliferating cells of the plasma cell and lymphocyte families. A schematic representation of this disease spectrum is proposed.[long dash]Authors.