A Complicated Case of Dyspnea

This is the case of a patient initially presenting with productive cough, pleuritic chest pain, and hypoxemia. After a complicated clinical course the patient was eventually diagnosed with mucinous adenocarcinoma of the lung and associated pleural amyloidosis.

The relation between cancer and amyloidosis is still unclear; however it is a very well- known fact that amyloid deposits are linked to malignancy. Gene mutations in cancer can trigger the expression of proteins which can aggregate into amyloid like fibrils.