RESUMO
To know the natural history and the several clinical manifestations of amyloidosis, were reviewed retrospectively 44 cases at the Hospital General, Centro Médico Nacional, I.M.S.S. We found the secondary type in 79 per cent, primary shape in 9 per cent and 2 per cent associated with multiple myeloma. The frequency was similar in both sexes and was greater between the fifth and sixth decade of life; 34 per cent of the patients were diabetic; the symptomatology corresponded in 90 per cent of the cases to the main pathology, and only 9.9 per cent of the cases it was secondary to the amyloidosis itself; the alterations of laboratory test were not specific. The organs involved in the cases of primary amyloidosis were: spleen (100 per cent), kidney (80 per cent), heart (80 per cent), digestive tract (60 per cent), and lung (60 per cent). In the secondary shape: spleen (56 per cent), liver (41 per cent), adrenals (23 per cent) and kidney (11 per cent). Death could generally be adscribed to intercurrent pathology.