Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 6, 2024; 12(19): 3918-3924
Published online Jul 6, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i19.3918
Hepatic amyloidosis in a patient with chronic liver failure: A case report
Yan Chen, Jing Peng, Yao Wang, Li-Hua Xiao, Fang Liu, Yin-Bin Wei, Xiong-Fei Wu, Lu-Wen Wang
Yan Chen, Li-Hua Xiao, Fang Liu, Yin-Bin Wei, Xiong-Fei Wu, Department of Infectious Diseases, Hanchuan People's Hospital, Hanchuan 431699, Hubei Province, China
Jing Peng, Yao Wang, Lu-Wen Wang, Department of Infectious Diseases, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, Hubei Province, China
Co-first authors: Yan Chen and Jing Peng.
Author contributions: Chen Y, Peng J, Wang Y and Wang LW contributed to the manuscript investigating; Chen Y and Wang LW wrote original draft; Xiao LH, Liu F, Wei YB and Wu XF contributed to the reviewing and editing; Chen Y and Peng J contributed equally to this work; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, China, No. 2022CFB120.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Lu-Wen Wang, MD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, No. 238 Jiefang Road, Wuhan 430060, Hubei Province, China. wangluw8253@163.com
Received: February 7, 2024
Revised: April 25, 2024
Accepted: May 9, 2024
Published online: July 6, 2024
Processing time: 143 Days and 8.2 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Amyloidosis is a rare disorder that can be classified into various types, and the most common type is the systemic light chain type. The prognosis of this disease is extremely poor. In general, amyloidosis mainly affects the kidneys and heart and manifests as abnormal proliferation of clonal plasma cells. Cases in which the liver is the primary organ affected by amyloidosis, as in this report, are less common in clinical practice.

CASE SUMMARY

A 62-year-old man was admitted with persistent liver dysfunction of unknown cause and poor treatment outcomes. His condition persisted, and he developed chronic liver failure, with severe cholestasis in the later stage that was gradually accompanied by renal injury. Ultimately, he was diagnosed with hepatic amyloidosis through liver biopsy and pathological examination.

CONCLUSION

Hepatic amyloidosis rarely occurs in the clinic, and liver biopsy and pathological examination can assist in the accurate and effective diagnosis of this condition.

Keywords: Hepatic amyloidosis; Rare disease; Chronic liver failure; Liver biopsy; Pathological examination; Case report

Core Tip: We report a rare case of a patient who was admitted with persistent liver dysfunction and developed chronic liver failure and severe cholestasis. Primary systemic amyloidosis with only symptoms and signs of hepatic involvement is rare and presents a diagnostic challenge. The patient was ultimately diagnosed with hepatic amyloidosis through liver biopsy and pathological examination by Congo red staining. The patient requested symptomatic treatment with hepatic protective drugs and refused stem cell transplantation or chemotherapy. The patient has a poor prognosis.