Anaesthetic challenges in the spine surgery of a young Asian man with lumbar amyloidosis

Abstract

Primary amyloidosis is a rare systemic disorder often associated with multiple organ dysfunction. The most common form, light chain amyloidosis, has an estimated age-adjusted incidence of 5.1–12.8 cases per million person-years. Spine involvement is extremely uncommon. We present the case of a young Asian man with newly diagnosed amyloidosis involving the lumbar spine among multiple organs with a pathological vertebral fracture that required urgent spine surgery. We believe this is the first reported case to discuss the perianaesthetic challenges in the management of lumbar spine amyloidosis.