Etiology and Complications of Liver Cirrhosis in Children:Report of a Single Center from Southern Iran

BACKGROUND Liver cirrhosis is one of the major causes of hospitalization and mortality in children. A wide spectrum of disorders including developmental abnormalities, infections, metabolic and genetic disorders can lead to liver cirrhosis in pediatric patients. Determination of its etiology is important for treatment, prevention of progressive liver damage, family counseling and prioritizing liver transplantation. The aim of this study is to evaluate causes of liver cirrhosis in children in Southern Iran. METHODS We included all cirrhotic children aged less than 18 years who referred to an outpatient pediatric gastroenterology clinic affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences between March 2009 and September 2010 in this cross-sectional study. The etiology of cirrhosis was determined according to clinical findings, laboratory tests, imaging studies such as ultrasonography or computed tomography scan, hepatobiliary scintigraphy and histopathologic examination of the liver biopsy. Cirrhosis with unknown etiology was considered as cryptogenic. RESULTS A total of 106 cirrhotic children aged between 5 months to 18 years with a mean age of 8.24 ± 6.12 years that included 60 boys (56.6%) and 46 girls (43.4%) were enrolled in the study. The most common causes of liver cirrhosis were Wilson disease (n=22; 20.7%), biliary atresia (n=19; 17.9%), and cryptogenic cirrhosis (n=14; 13.2%). Other causes were autoimmune hepatitis (n=12; 11.3%), idiopathic neonatal hepatitis (n=10; 9.4%), hepatorenal tyrosinemia (n=9; 8.5%), glycogen storage disease (n=6; 5.7%), and progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (n=4; 3.8%). CONCLUSION Considering the most common etiology of liver cirrhosis in children in this part of Iran we suggest testing for Wilson disease in all cirrhotic children.