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Updated: Aug 19, 2026

Anti-Nuclear Antibody Screening Using HEp-2 Cells
Published on: June 23, 2014
[Pseudoachalasia and secondary amyloidosis in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis]
J M López-Cepero Andrada1, J Jiménez Arjona, A Amaya Vidal
1Secciones de Aparato Digestivo y Medicina Interna, Hospital General de Jerez Cádiz. merychus@wanadoo.es
Abstract:
Rheumatic diseases cover a wide spectrum of clinical syndromes and frequently present with gastrointestinal alterations. Systemic amyloidosis is associated with infectious diseases or chronic inflammatory processes such as rheumatoid arthritis and it can also affect the gastrointestinal tract. Although esophageal involvement is difficult to quantify because its course is frequently asymptomatic, systemic amyloidosis is recognized as a cause of motor disorders of the esophagus. Typical manometric patterns, including achalasia, are usually absent. Esophageal involvement due to amyloid deposits usually corresponds to primary amyloidosis as only a few cases of secondary esophageal deposits (type AA) have been described. We describe a new case of this exceptional association that first presented as dysphagia in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis. The initial suspicion of pseudoachalasia led to the definitive diagnosis of secondary amyloidosis.
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