Amyloidosis is a rare and potentially deadly condition in which abnormal proteins build up in your organs, which can lead to organ failure. These abnormal proteins, called amyloid proteins, do not come from an excess of protein in the diet, but are made by your own body. Amyloidosis can affect people differently but most commonly it attacks the heart, kidneys, liver, spleen, nervous system or digestive tract. Symptoms vary depending on which organs are affected.
Causes
Primary amyloidosis, the most common form of the disease, begins in your bone marrow, which is responsible for making antibodies that travel throughout your body fighting disease. Primary amyloidosis occurs when an abnormal antibody is made that then builds up in the organs, causing them to malfunction. A gene that leads the liver to produce amyloid proteins that accumulate in the body causes hereditary amyloidosis. Secondary amyloidosis develops when other diseases, such as chronic infections or inflammatory diseases, cause amyloid proteins to deposit in the organs. The causes of secondary amyloidosis include tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, cystic fibrosis, hairy cell leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, multiple myeloma -- a bone marrow cancer, lupus, or the bone infection osteomyelitis.
Risk Factors
Amyloidosis is more common in some people than others. You are at higher than average risk if you are over age 40, have a chronic condition, a family history of the problem and have had kidney dialysis. Older dialysis techniques could not remove large proteins from the blood, meaning that amyloid proteins were left behind to accumulate in the organs. Improvements in dialysis techniques have reduced the frequency of this problem, according to MayoClinic.com.
Symptoms
Amyloidosis can cause many symptoms, but which ones a particular patient will experience depends on which organs the amyloid proteins are damaging. Symptoms include leg swelling, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, shortness of breath, numbness or tingling in the extremities, diarrhea, constipation, voice changes, joint pain, reduced urine production, clay-colored stool, an enlarged tongue, thickening of the skin, easy bruising, purple discoloration around the eyes, irregular heartbeat and swallowing difficulties.
Treatment
There is no cure for amyloidosis, but there are treatments that can help reduce symptoms and limit further damage, according to MayoClinic.com. Many people with amyloidosis are given cancer chemotherapy aimed at stopping the bone marrow from producing more amyloid proteins and doing more damage. Sometimes a bone marrow transplant is used to stop the production of amyloid proteins. If you have secondary amyloidosis, doctors will treat the underlying disease to prevent further organ damage. For hereditary amyloidosis, a liver transplant may help because that is where the amyloid proteins are formed. You may also require treatment for whatever organ damage amyloidosis has caused and this will vary depending on the extent of the damage and which organs are affected.
