- Viral hepatitis
. . . [Full text of this article]
© 2003 Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
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Deep jaundice in an adolescent
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
In this young girl a syndrome of fever, lymphadenopathy, and hepatosplenomegaly were accompanied by intrahepatic cholestasis with high bilirubin and acute hepatocellular damage.
The differential diagnosis initially includes any cause of acute hepatitis (box 1
) and/or cholestasis (box 2
). The patient was not pregnant, she was not alcoholic, took no medication, and had no history of chronic disease. Serological testing excluded acute viral hepatitis A, B, and C, which may be associated with icterus, low grade fever, lymphadenopathy, and hepatosplenomegaly. Autoimmune hepatitis may present with the same signs and symptoms, although acute icteric hepatitis as a presenting symptom is rather unusual. An important step during differential diagnosis is to exclude Wilsons disease, which may be present in young adolescents, but acute hepatitis with cholestasis is also unusual. Moreover clinical and laboratory testing failed to diagnose Wilsons disease in our patient.
Relevant Article
- Deep jaundice in an adolescent
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Postgrad. Med. J. 2003 79: 544.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
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