Three types of hepatitis are seen in children-acute viral hepatitis, active chronic hepatitis and the neonatal hepatitis syndrome. Few adequate controlled clinical trials of immunosuppressive therapy have been performed in these conditions, and none specifically in children. Many trials in the 1950s using corticosteroids were performed in acute viral hepatitis. Some showed that steroids were su...

INTRODUCTION Little is known about the epidemiology, causes and outcomes of neonatal cholestasis in the Asian population beyond Japan and Taiwan. METHODS This was a prospective, observational study on patients with neonatal cholestasis who were referred to the University of Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia, between November 1996 and May 2004. RESULTS Biliary atresia (BA) (29 percent) and idi...

Cholestasis in early infancy represents a diagnostic dilemma and most of these infants suffer either from extrahepatic biliary atresia or idiopathic neonatal hepatitis. Differentiation between the two conditions may be extremely difficult both clinically and biochemically, and a diagnostic liver biopsy is usually required. We report on a Sudanese infant who presented at the age of 4 weeks with ...

Hyper IgD syndrome (HIDS) is a rare metabolic autoinflammatory syndrome characterised by recurrent febrile episodes, accompanied by various inflammatory symptoms. We present a case of severe HIDS in a young girl, whose symptoms started in the neonatal period with hepatomegaly, hepatitis, thrombocytopenia, and conjugated hyperbilirubinemia. From the age of five months, the child had recurrent fe...

A problem-orientated case record was used for the investigation and management of neonatal jaundice. Investigation of babies requiring phototherapy rarely showed any abnormality but we consider that such routine investigations are worth retaining. There were problems in the interpretation of moderately low plasma concentrations of thyroxine in small, preterm babies. There was biochemical eviden...