Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributing Authors
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- SECTION I PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF PEDIATRIC LIVER DISEASE
- SECTION II CHOLESTATIC LIVER DISEASES
- 9 Approach to the Infant with Cholestasis
- 10 Medical and Nutritional Management of Cholestasis in Infants and Children
- 11 Neonatal Hepatitis and Congenital Infections
- 12 Biliary Atresia and Other Disorders of the Extrahepatic Bile Ducts
- 13 Neonatal Jaundice and Disorders of Bilirubin Metabolism
- 14 Familial Hepatocellular Cholestasis
- 15 Alagille Syndrome
- 16 Diseases of the Gallbladder in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
- SECTION III HEPATITIS AND IMMUNE DISORDERS
- SECTION IV METABOLIC LIVER DISEASE
- SECTION V OTHER CONDITIONS AND ISSUES IN PEDIATRIC HEPATOLOGY
- Index
- Plate section
- References
11 - Neonatal Hepatitis and Congenital Infections
from SECTION II - CHOLESTATIC LIVER DISEASES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributing Authors
- Preface to the Third Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- SECTION I PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF PEDIATRIC LIVER DISEASE
- SECTION II CHOLESTATIC LIVER DISEASES
- 9 Approach to the Infant with Cholestasis
- 10 Medical and Nutritional Management of Cholestasis in Infants and Children
- 11 Neonatal Hepatitis and Congenital Infections
- 12 Biliary Atresia and Other Disorders of the Extrahepatic Bile Ducts
- 13 Neonatal Jaundice and Disorders of Bilirubin Metabolism
- 14 Familial Hepatocellular Cholestasis
- 15 Alagille Syndrome
- 16 Diseases of the Gallbladder in Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
- SECTION III HEPATITIS AND IMMUNE DISORDERS
- SECTION IV METABOLIC LIVER DISEASE
- SECTION V OTHER CONDITIONS AND ISSUES IN PEDIATRIC HEPATOLOGY
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
Neonatal hepatitis refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders that result in a somewhat similar morphologic change in the liver of an infant less than 3 months of age in response to various insults. The term neonatal hepatitis has been used at times to include all causes of cholestasis in infancy in which extrahepatic biliary obstruction is excluded. Although in the majority of cases an etiology cannot be found, specific infectious and metabolic causes have been identified that may present as neonatal hepatitis. At final diagnosis, neonatal hepatitis is responsible for approximately 40% of the cases of infants with cholestasis and is the most frequently encountered liver disorder of early infancy. Males usually predominate over females (two to one). Additionally, some familial cases have been reported, suggesting either a maternal environmental factor or autosomal recessive inheritance.
Histologically, there is a loss of the lobular architecture with preservation of the zonal distribution of portal tracts and central veins. There is ballooning degeneration of hepatocytes with fusion of hepatocyte membranes and nuclear transformation into multinucleated giant cells. These multinucleated giant cells are believed to be the response of immature hepatocytes to most forms of injury and are a nonspecific finding in neonatal liver biopsy samples. There may be abundant extramedullary hematopoiesis and variable inflammation (Figure 11.1). Cholestasis may be marked because the newborn already is in a relative state of physiologic cholestasis.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Liver Disease in Children , pp. 232 - 246Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
References
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