Cerebral and cardiac amyloidosis in autopsied elderly individuals
Carregando...
Data
2006
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
Título de Volume
Editor
Resumo
INTRODUCTION: Amyloidosis in elderly individuals can be an independent alteration and a characteristic of aging. However,
the clinical, pathophysiologic, and biochemical characteristics of amyloidosis related to age remain uncertain.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which the heart and/or the brain of individuals aged 60
years or over exhibits amyloid deposits.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The autopsy findings of individuals who were at least 60 years old were studied. The autopsies
took place between the years of 1976 and 2000. A total of 10 cases were selected that had hearts without cardiopathies, had
negative serology for Chagas’ disease, and had brains without morphological changes related to encephalopathies. Slides with
fragments of heart and brain were processed and analyzed using polarized and common light microscopy.
RESULTS: Of the 10 cases, 4 were positive for amyloidosis. All had positive findings in the brain, and 1 case also had positive
findings in the heart. Among the positive cases, 50% were of people aged 60 to 69 years. There appeared to be a relationship
between the presence of amyloid deposits and the ratio of brain and body weight, with the ratio in the positive cases being smaller
than in the negative cases.
CONCLUSIONS: The analysis of amyloid deposits in the brains and hearts of elderly individuals shows that such deposits may
lead to a systemic attack of senility, common to natural aging. It is not certain that beta-amyloid deposits would alone bring such
drastic repercussions to the individual. Some additional disorders of the organism could cause the breakdown of the natural
balance related to the accumulation of these proteins, leading the way to the pathological contexts of amyloidosis.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Autopsy, Amyloidosis, Elderly, Encephalon, Heart, Autópsia, Amiloidose, Coração, Encéfalo, Envelhecimento
Citação
NUNES, Lucas Martins de Excel et al. Cerebral and cardiac amyloidosis in autopsied elderly individuals. Clinics, São Paulo, v. 61, n. 2, p. 113-118, 2006.