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PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:dateCreated
2002-9-5
pubmed:abstractText
Acute liver failure and haemolytic syndrome appeared quite suddenly as the first manifestations of Wilson disease (WD) in five of our patients previously regarded as healthy persons (although an interview showed that 2-4 weeks prior to the illness the patients complained of several non-specific symptoms, such as abdominal pain, headaches, fever, weakness or behavioural changes). All the patients were young women (17-23 years), none of them had any history of liver disease. They were admitted with icterus, nausea, vomiting and symptoms of increasing haemolysis. The diagnosis of WD was given as disturbed copper metabolism. After a short period of observation ascites and anasarca occurred, haemorrhagic diathesis and other symptoms of liver failure increased. Levels of clotting factors decreased rapidly. Despite treatment with D-penicillamine, plasmapheresis, and symptomatic drugs, three of the women died in irreversible liver coma, due to the unavailability of liver transplantation. The fourth woman was carried to the Transplantation Centre, due to aggravation of the symptoms of liver failure, where liver transplantation was performed. Histopathologically micronodular cirrhosis was shown in all these cases. The fifth patient survived having undergone the above treatment without liver transplantation. The main differences between the patient who survived and those who died or underwent transplantation were relatively higher activity of alkaline phosphatase (26 U/l vs. 10-20 U/l), slightly higher levels of clotting factors and prothrombin time, which never fall below 68% of the control (versus 14-44% in other patients). Only in the surviving patient was the Kayser-Fleischer ring present. In four of our patients we found family members who were carriers of WD.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
May
pubmed:issn
1234-1010
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
7 Suppl 1
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
246-51
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2001
pubmed:articleTitle
Acute haemolytic syndrome and liver failure as the first manifestations of Wilson's disease.
pubmed:affiliation
Baltic Humanistic University, Faculty of Pedagogics, Koszalin, Poland.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Case Reports