Periodic Fever with Renal Amyloidosis

THE characteristic syndrome of periodic fever, as described by Reimann1 in his review of reported cases in 1953, consists of recurrent abdominal pain, fever and leukocytosis of unknown etiology. The apparent restriction of the disease to people of Mediterranean stock, primarily Sephardic Jews, Armenians, Arabs, Turks and Italians, and its familial occurrence were emphasized by Heller et al.2 in their study of 253 cases. Renal involvement in periodic disease was first reported by Mamou and Cattan.3 Later, Tuqan4 described 2 such cases in which diffuse amyloidosis, involving chiefly the kidneys, spleen and adrenal glands, was found at autopsy. This report . . .