Pulmonary hypertension as a dominant clinical picture in a case of amyloidosis and smoldering multiple myeloma

A 48-year-old male patient presented with dyspnea on exertion. Patient was found to have pulmonary hypertension. Myocardial biopsy showed amyloidosis and further work-up revealed Salmon-Durie stage 1A multiple myeloma. Patient had no other clinical manifestations of amyloidosis. It is possible that the pulmonary hypertension is caused by amyloid deposition into pulmonary arteries as the arterial amyloid deposition is common in AL amyloidosis. Treatment with sildenafil led to hemodynamic and symptomatic improvement. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.