ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The amyloidosis is one of the histologic lesions the most frequently associated to the aging. AIM: To identify the several etiologies of amyloidosis in elderly patients according to immunohistochemical type. METHODS: Retrospective study on 10 years, in Internal medicine and Nephrology department in Charles Nicolle Hospital. Tunis. Tunisia. Diagnosis of amyloidosis was retained after histological confirmation with specific colorations, in patients aged 65 years or more at the diagnose of amyloidosis. RESULTS: The study enrolled 51 patients with amyloidosis. In 67% of cases it was AA amyloidosis. The etiology the most frequently observed with this type was the tuberculosis, followed by chronic pulmonary infections. We retained diagnose of non AA amyloidosis in 21% of patients. The multiple myeloma has been the most frequent etiology observed, but no cause was identified at about half of patients. Twelve per cent of amyloidosis were not typed. CONCLUSION: From our study, we can remark the high predominance of AA amyloidosis, probably because of frequency of tuberculosis which is still high in our country, this is not in accordance with occidental data, were AL amyloidosis and senile amyloidosis predominate in elderly.
