[A case of multiple myeloma with heart failure improved remarkably by chemotherapy alone]

A rare case is reported, in which heart failure in a patient with multiple myeloma without amyloidosis was improved following chemotherapy for the myeloma. The patient, a 50 year-old man, came to our hospital for examination because of anemia and hematuria. He was diagnosed as having an IgG kappa type of myeloma with the relatively rare complication of renal cancer. A chest X-ray revealed cardiomegaly and pulmonary congestion. An echocardiogram revealed an enlarged left ventricle with decreased wall motion. No cardiac amyloid deposits were detected upon endomyocardial biopsy. Chemotherapy for the myeloma which was carried out before the operation for renal cancer was not only effective for control of the myeloma, but also decreased the pulmonary congestion and improved the heart function. It is suggested that the lowering of heart function in this patient was not due to amyloid infiltration as is relatively frequent in heart failure but was due to increased blood viscosity due to the multiple myeloma.