Amyloidosis unassociated with a predisposing disease.

Abstract

VIRCHOW, 1 in 1854, was the first to describe The similarity of the staining properties of amyloid and starch with iodine and sulfuric acid prompted him to name the substance amyloid. Several years later, Wilks 2 described, in a paper entitled Cases of Lardaceous Disease and Some Allied Infections, 2 cases, of the 36 presented, in which the autopsy findings were compatible with what was later classified as primary systemic amyloidosis. Wild, 3 in 1886, reported the next case of amyloidosis. Primary systemic amyloidosis is a relatively rare condition. In 1929 Lubarsch 6 reported three cases of primary systemic amyloidosis and suggested criteria for the recognition of the disease. He also formulated a classification of the various forms of amyloidosis which is still in wide use today. By 1930 only 10 cases had been recorded in the literature. Koletsky and Stecher, 7 in 1939, reviewed the 23 reported cases