Treatment of al amyloidosis with melphalan, prednisone, and colchicine

✍ Scribed by Merrill D. Benson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1986
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 509 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780290515

✦ Synopsis

Seven patients with immunoglobulin type (AL) amyloidosis were treated with combination chemotherapy., including melphalan, prednisone, and colchicine. Two patients died within 5 months of the beginning of therapy. Both had amyloid cardiomyopathy. Five patients were alive 1 7 4 0 months after the start of therapy, and none had shown progression of disease. The most significant findings were the resolution of the nephrotic syndrome in 2 patients, and improvement of liver function, as demonstrated by excretion of indocyanine green, in 2 patients. These results are encouraging and sqpport the need for further studies of this regimen of cbmbination chemotherapy for patients with AL a h yloidosis.

Systemic amyloidosis of the AL type (primary) is characterized by the deposition of monoclonal light chain protein as p pleated-sheet fibrils (1). Although practically every organ can be affected by these deposits, deposition of amyloid proteins in cardiac and renal tissues is the leading cause of illness and is the most common cause of death. Renal amyloid most commonly causes the nephrotic syndrome, which is