THE PATTERN OF LIVER-DISEASE IN INDIAN CHILDREN - A REVIEW OF 128 BIOPSIED CASES

We report the pattern of childhood liver disease revealed by a study o f 134 biopsies obtained from 128 infants and children below the age of 16 years seen in this hospital during a 3-year period. The most commo n histological diagnoses were neonatal hepatitis syndrome in 23, stora ge disorders in 11, and cirrhosis in 26 children. Less common diagnose s included Reye's syndrome in four, fatty liver in seven, granulomas i n four, and chronic active hepatitis, fulminant hepatitis, congenital hepatic fibrosis and neoplasms in two children each. Miscellaneous spe cific diagnoses were made in 16 cases. Twenty-three per cent of the li ver biopsies were non-diagnostic. The study has provided background in formation on the occurrence of specific histological diagnoses in live r biopsies in infants and children in this tropical region and identif ies a group with cirrhosis and copper deposition which was not typical of either Indian childhood cirrhosis or Wilson's disease.