Sick sinus syndrome and primary systemic amyloidosis

A sixty-eight-year-old woman with documented sick sinus syndrome was found to have, five years later, florid clinical features of systemic amyloidosis which only then led to recognition of an underlying IgA, Kappa paraproteinaemia. The literature on this association is outlined. Underlying plasma cell dyscrasias should be excluded in cases of unexplained sick sinus syndrome.(AU)

Frequency of occurrence of immunoglobulin changes in monoclonal gammopathies in Guadeloupe (FWI): comparison with published data - abstract

The distribution of 213 monoclonal gammopathies according to sex, age and heavy and light chains was determined over a 5-year period at the Centre Hospitalier Regional et Universitaire, Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe.(Results are included in a table). There was no sex difference in any of the parameters tested. The mean age of males was 38.5 SD 10.6 yrs and of females 69.2 SD 11.9 years. The relative frequency of individual immunoglobulin classes involved in monoclonal gammopathies was different from that of non-West Indian populations but similar to that of Guadeloupe, another West Indian Island. Results were obtained that confirmed Osterland's (7) hypothesis that the relative frequency of occurrence of immunoglobulin classes involved in monoclonal gammopathies correlates fairly well with relative frequency of immunoglobulin classes in normal sera (AU)