Oral Phase Dysphagia, the First Manifestation of Systemic Amyloidosis Associated with Multiple Myeloma

Abstract

Amyloidosis is a disease in which abnormal proteins called amyloid accumulates in various tissues. In the head and neck area, the larynx is the most common site with the rare involvement of the tongue, causing symptoms of macroglossia. Most of amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis are systemic amyloidosis accompanied with multiple myeloma (MM), where the involvement of tongue can be often observed. We report a case of AL amyloidosis with MM, initially with symptoms of dysarthria and dysphagia without macroglossia, but gradually over the years, macroglossia and high tongue stiffness were observed.