Each one is associated with deposits of a different kind of protein. The major forms of this disease are primary systemic, secondary, and familial or hereditary amyloidosis. There is also another form of amyloidosis associated with Alzheimer's disease . Primary systemic amyloidosis usually develops between the ages of 50 and 60. With about 2,000 new cases diagnosed annually, primary systemic amyloidosis is the most common form of this disease in the United States.
Secondary amyloidosis is a result of chronic infection or inflammatory disease.
Rheumatoid arthritis . Familial or hereditary amyloidosis is the only inherited form of the disease. It occurs in members of most ethnic groups, and each family has a distinctive pattern of symptoms and organ involvement. Hereditary amyloidosis is though to be autosomal dominant, which means that only one copy of the defective gene is necessary to cause the disease. A child of a parent with familial amyloidosis has a 50-50 chance of developing the disease.