Waldenström's macroglobulinemia with generalized amyloidosis.

THE HE COEXISTENCE of two diseases in one individual is of particular interest when one or both are of uncertain etiology, since it raises the question whether these diseases are etiologically interrelated, or only fortuitously associated. Multiple myeloma 1 and Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia 2 are two closely related proliferative disorders of plasma cells, 3 the precise etiology of which still remains unknown. Generalized amyloidosis, 4 which is frequently associated with multiple myeloma, 5 may also represent a disorder of plasma cells. 6 This communication concerns a patient with macroglobulinemia of Waldenstrom who was found, at autopsy, to have generalized amyloidosis, an association which has been previously recorded only 11 times. 2,6-18 This report and the discussion which follows will attempt to illustrate and summarize some of the unifying concepts on the pathogenesis of these reticuloendothelial diseases. Report of a Case A 56-year-old mining foreman (21-54-24) was admitted for the first time to the Royal Victoria Hospital,