Abstract
Idiopathic neonatal hepatitis (INH) is aheterogenous disease of undetermined cause. We report aretrospective histologic reevaluation of INH. Sixtypatients with INH were reviewed along with 32 biliary atresia (BA) patients. Histologic findings,iron and fat deposits, giant cell transformation, portalfibrosis, and bile duct proliferation weresemiquantitatively graded from 0 to 4+. Significanthistologic findings were defined as ≥2+. Frequencies ofpatients with significant histologic findings in the INHgroup were compared with those of the BA group. Amongthe patients with significant histologic findings, those in the INH group had significantly lessiron deposits (P < 0.01), portal fibrosis (P <0.01), and bile duct proliferation (P < 0.01) thanthose of the BA group. A combination of significanthepatic macrovesicular steatosis and siderosis was observed in 10 INHpatients but not in any BA patient (10/60 vs 0/32, P< 0.05). Without extensive treatment, the 10 INHpatients all recovered, and hepatic abnormalitiesnormalized by the age of 12 months. In conclusion, thepresent study showed that the recognition of hepaticsiderosis is helpful to distinguish BA from INH and thatin a subset of INH patients hepatic macrovesicular steatosis and siderosis occurs.
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Tazawa, Y., Abukawa, D., Maisawa, S. et al. Idiopathic Neonatal Hepatitis Presenting as Neonatal Hepatic Siderosis and Steatosis. Dig Dis Sci 43, 392–396 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018827027033
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018827027033