[A patient with psoriatic arthritis and secondary amyloidosis]

A case of a man suffering from psoriasis vulgaris is presented. The onset of the disease was at the age of 5. From the age of 14 all joints were gradually affected by the type of severe, symmetrical psoriatic arthritis which led to aseptic necrosis of the hip joints. In the course of the disease, from 1988 on, proteinuria and nephrotic syndrome were found. The renal biopsy proved amyloidosis which is considered secondary, developed on the basis of psoriatic arthritis. The severe psoriatic arthritis with especially emphasized clinical activity is in this case the pathologic antigenic stimulus for the amyloid formation. The clinical course and the histologic findings from the renal biopsy point to serious structural disorders of the renal parenchyma which determine the progressing tendency toward chronic renal failure.