Secondary amyloidosis developing after pancreaticoduodenal resection

Necropsy of a 34-year-old women four years after she had undergone pancreaticoduodenal resection showed amyloidosis, fatty liver, and cachexia. In life a malabsorption syndrome had been diagnosed two years after the resection, but at this stage tests for amyloidosis were still negative. Besides the fatty liver, positive histochemical tests for lipids (lipoproteins) in amyloid deposits were also found. Taken together with other findings these features reinforce the suggestion that lipprotein accumulation plays an essential part in the formation of amyloid.