Case Report: Macroglossia, a sign of A.L. amyloidosis in a case of recurrent pleural effusion
P. Torres*a (Dr), E. Faustinoa (Dr)
a Mary Mediatrix Medical Center, Lipa, PHILIPPINES
* uapctorres@gmail.com
Background Amyloidosis is a rare disease in which aggregation and deposition of misfolded proteins results in insoluble amyloid fibrils derived from different precursor proteins and commonly presented with macroglossia and confirmed by biopsy with apple-green birefringence.
Case Report A 52-year-old woman presented with a chief complaint of difficulty breathing and a history of recurrent bilateral pleural effusion; on admission, a progressively enlarging tongue was also noted in the history since 2017. The patient underwent a tongue and lung tissue biopsy, which revealed apple-green birefringence in Congo red stain. The patient expired due to multiple organ failures.
Conclusion Amyloidosis is a rare case with multiple clinical presentations confirmed by biopsy. In summary, although amyloidosis is commonly presented with macroglossia, it is essential to investigate further multi-organ involvement that can lead to poor clinical outcomes.
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Disclosure of funding source(s): none