Systemic amyloidosis--three illustrative cases.

Amyloidosis is characterised by the extracellular deposition of abnormal protein fibrils. Recent advances in the study of amyloidosis have been based on the chemical analysis of these protein fibrils.1,2 This has also led to a more rational classification of the condition (Fig 1). Further discussion of localised forms of amyloidosis is outside the scope of this article, which will be confined to systemic amyloidosis.