Gastrointestinal amyloidosis: A focused review

Table 1 Differences in systemic and localized gastrointestinal amyloidosis

Systemic gastrointestinal amyloidosis	Localized gastrointestinal amyloidosis
More common subtype	Less common subtype
Amyloid production at a remote location with subsequent deposition in the GI tract	Amyloid production in the GI tract with subsequent deposition locally
Presence of amyloid precursor proteins in the blood	Amyloid precursor proteins absent in the blood
Associated with plasma cell dyscrasia, chronic inflammatory conditions, dialysis, or hereditary conditions	Not associated with an underlying disease pathology
Amyloid precursor protein deposited include AL, AA, Aβ2M and ATTR	Amyloid precursor protein most deposited is AL
Management consists of symptomatic management and treatment of the underlying etiology	Management consists of observation or surgical excision of the localised deposition
Prognosis depends on the type and amount of amyloid deposition	Good prognosis. No transition to systemic type

AL: Monoclonal light chain; AA: Serum amyloid A; Aβ2M: β2-microglobulin amyloid; ATTR: Familial transthyretin-associated amyloidosis; GI: Gastrointestinal.