[Diseases associated with renal amyloidosis. Apropos of 216 cases]

Diseases associated with renal amyloidosis were evaluated in 216 patients observed between 1956 and 1989. The percentage of secondary amyloidosis decreased from 72 to 47%, where it has remained for the past 20 years, despite the clear diminution in the tuberculosis rate; this is due to its increased incidence of association with rheumatoid diseases. Dysglobulinemia was found in more than 75% of the patients with AL amyloidosis. Amyloidosis associated with this dysglobulinemia, of which 30% were myelomatous, represented more than 25% of the cases observed during the past decade and constituted, with rheumatoid arthritis, the two most common etiologies.