Hepatic Amyloidosis: A Cause of Rapidly Progressive Jaundice

An 83-year-old man presented with an acute history of weight loss and jaundice. He had a history of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. He consumed 30 units of alcohol per week. The patient was cachectic and jaundiced with non-tender hepatomegaly and no evidence of chronic liver disease. There was evidence of hypoalbuminaemia (albumin 25 g/L, reference 34-51 g/L), hyperbilirubinaemia (bilirubin 188 mmol/L, reference 22 mmol/L) and a raised alkaline phosphatase (629 IU/L, reference 35-105 IU/L).

Full blood count, coagulation tests and the remaining liver function tests were normal. An estimated Glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 71 mL/min/1.73 m2. Autoantibodies and immunoglobulins were normal. Hepatitis viral serology was negative. Serum light chain measurements revealed kappa chain concentration of 13.3 (reference 3.3-19.4 mg/L) and lambda chain concentration of 28.5 (reference 5.7-26.6 mg/L) with a ratio of 0.47 (reference 0.26-1.75).