Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tuglular, S.
Right arrow Articles by Akoglu, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Tuglular, S.
Right arrow Articles by Akoglu, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Nephrol Dial Transplant (2003) 18: 1032
© 2003 European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association

Letters and Replies

Reply

Serhan Tuglular and Emel Akoglu

Division of Nephrology, Marmara University Hospital, Altunizade, Istanbul, Turkey Email: serhantuglular{at}yahoo.com

Sir,

Garthwaite et al. report a rare case of squamous cell carcinoma of the bronchus associated with AA (secondary) amyloidosis. In our series of 287 cases with secondary amyloidosis [1], we did not have a single case of documented malignancy. The aetiologic distribution of the 14 cases classified as miscellaneous corresponding to 4% of the whole series was: Behçet's disease (4), Castleman disease (3), Still's disease (1) and valvular heart disease (1). All the cases reported in this article, including the 7% with unknown aetiology, are currently on follow-up and without documented underlying malignancy.

Furthermore, as emphasized in our report, these cases are all from nephrology clinics, which may be a bias in the aetiologic distribution.

It is tempting to speculate that since ~30% of patients with non-small cell lung cancer have concurrent long-standing chronic obstructive airway disease [2] with possible presence of bronchiectasias, the association may be with this underlying chronic inflammatory situation rather than the bronchogenic cancer itself. However, the previously reported association of secondary amyloidosis with other malignancies suggests that this may also be the case with lung cancer.

As is true for all rare disease associations, it is only through meticulous communications that we can gather this information which may finally enable us to conclude if this is really an association or merely a coincidence.

References

  1. Tuglular S, Yalcinkaya F, Paydas S et al. A retrospective analysis for aetiology and clinical findings of 287 secondary amyloidosis cases in Turkey. Nephrol Dial Transplant 2002; 17:2003–2005[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Sekine Y, Behnia M, Fujisawa T. Impact of COPD on pulmonary complications and on long-term survival of patients undergoing surgery for NSCLC. Lung Cancer 2002; 37:95–101[CrossRef][Web of Science][Medline]

Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?



This Article
Right arrow Extract Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tuglular, S.
Right arrow Articles by Akoglu, E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Tuglular, S.
Right arrow Articles by Akoglu, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?