TY - JOUR
TI - A fatal case of postinfantile giant cell hepatitis in a patient with
chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
AU - Alexopoulou, A
AU - Deutsch, M
AU - Ageletopoulou, J
AU - Delladetsima, JK
AU - and Marinos, E
AU - Kapranos, N
AU - Dourakis, SP
JO - European Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
PY - 2003
VL - 15
TODO - 5
SP - 551-555
PB - Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
SN - 0954-691X, 1473-5687
TODO - 10.1097/01.meg.0000050026.34359.7c
TODO - chronic lymphocytic leukaemia; paramyxo-like virus; postinfantile giant
cell hepatitis
TODO - Postinfantile giant cell hepatitis has been associated with various
aetiologies, including drug taking, autoimmune diseases and viral
infections. We present a fatal case of giant cell hepatitis in a patient
with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. No liver biopsy was available
ante-mortem. The patient was treated with corticosteroids and aciclovir
for suspected autoimmune hepatitis and reactivation of Epstein-Barr
virus in the context of his haematological malignancy. Post-mortem liver
biopsy showed severe giant cell hepatitis while the study of liver
tissue by electron microscopy revealed paramyxo-like viral particles in
the cytoplasm of the affected hepatocytes similar to those observed in
previous reports of giant cell hepatitis. This case illustrates that the
diagnosis of the underlying cause of giant cell hepatitis may be
complicated because a heterogeneous group of different aetiologies needs
to be investigated. The identification of the causative agent is
essential before commencing any kind of therapy. A few sporadic case
reports of paramyxo-like virus related, postinfantile giant cell
hepatitis have shown that ribavirin was quite effective treatment but
further clinical evaluation is needed. EurJ Gastroenterol Hepatol
15:551-555 (C) 2003 Lippincott Williams Wilkins.
ER -