BehÇet’s disease associated with amyloidosis

Summary

A case of BehÇet’s disease associated with amyloidosis is reported. A 34 year-old woman was referred to our Department after suffering diarrhea for one month. She had the complete type of BehÇet’s disease which began development when she was 12 years old. Diarrhea disappeared after she was admitted to the hospital but stool occult blood was strongly positive. A barium enema revealed the disappearance of haustration in the left colon. Urinalysis was normal. She suffered from cholecystolithiasis, and a cholecystectomy was performed. A histopathological examination revealed amyloid deposits in the stomach, duodenum, large bowel, gallbladder, and kidney. Amyloid was indicated as AA type after treating kidney and colon sections with potassium permanganate. Upon discharge, she was free of symptoms. Up to the present time, 19 cases, including our case of BehÇet’s disease with amyloidosis, have been reported. Four cases in Japan have been reported in Japanese. Reviewing the 19 cases, however, all of them developed initially as BehÇet’s disease, followed by amyloidosis and there have only been three cases including ours where the type of amyloid was studied. Our finding was identical to the previous two reports; namely identification of the AA type which is common in secondary amyloidosis. These findings lead to a conclusion that amyloidosis associated with BehÇet’s disease is secondary.