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- Title
Approach to a child with chronic liver disease.
- Authors
Mieli-Vergani, Giorgina; Vergani, Diego
- Abstract
Chronic liver disease is suspected on the basis of clinical and laboratory features. The former include a positive past or family history for liver disease, a prolonged duration of what looks like an acute hepatitic illness, presentation with complications of portal hypertension, like bleeding varices or hypersplenism, signs of chronic liver disease on examination, like hard liver, splenomegaly, ascites, and cutaneous stigmata of chronic liver damage. Typical laboratory features are low albumin, prolongation of prothrombin time usually responsive to vitamin K, high gammaglobulins. Differential diagnosis of chronic liver disease requires specific laboratory tests for viral hepatitis, autoimmune liver disease, metabolic disorders and evaluation of the liver histology to confirm the diagnosis or to assess disease severity.
- Subjects
LIVER diseases; CHRONIC diseases; JUVENILE diseases; ETIOLOGY of diseases; FAMILIAL diseases; PORTAL hypertension; DISEASE complications; CLINICAL pathology
- Publication
Journal of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 2004, Vol 19, pS377
- ISSN
0815-9319
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1440-1746.2004.03638.x