AA amyloidosis

Overview

AA amyloidosis is a progressive and fatal condition that affects approximately 50,000 people in the United States, Europe and Japan with chronic inflammatory diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn's disease.

The disease also occurs in patients suffering from many other conditions ranging from chronic infections to inherited inflammatory diseases such as Familial Mediterranean Fever. The most common clinical presentation of AA amyloidosis is renal dysfunction. Involvement of the gastrointestinal system is also frequent and is usually manifested as chronic diarrhea, gastrointestinal bleeding, abdominal pain and malabsorption. Enlargement of the liver and the spleen may also occur in some patients. End-stage renal failure is the main cause of death in 40-60% of cases. The median survival time from diagnosis varies from 2 to 10 years depending on the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis.

Source: BELLUS Health

Treatment

No specific treatment is currently available for this orphan disease. The goal of the existing therapies is limited to the control of the underlying chronic inflammatory disease. The current therapeutic approaches are normally non-specific, and may be toxic, invasive or ineffective.

Source: BELLUS Health

Resources

Synonyms:

Amyloid A amyloidosis

Amyloidosis AA