Spectrum of histopathological diagnosis in paediatric patients with liver disorders in Pakistan

Objective: to document spectrum of paediatric liver disorders confirmed on liver biopsy. methods: the retrospective review of patients was conducted at shifa international hospital,islamabad,pakistan,and comprised data of all children who underwent ultrasound-guided percutaneous liver biopsy between december 2008 and june 2015. frequency of individual diagnosis was assessed and compared on gender basis. spss 16 was used for statistical analysis,results: there were medical records of 74 patients in the study with an overall median age of 6.9 years (interquartile range: 0.2-17.7 years). metabolic 27(36.5%) and inflammatory 19(25.6%) disorders were the most common aetiologies. at presentation 29(39.1%) patients had cirrhosis; and 25(34%) children were <5 years of age. metabolic disorders were the most common aetiology in children upto 10 years of age with 19(25.6%) patients. above the age of 10 years,inflammatory disorders were more frequent and were seen in 10(13.5%). based on gender,a trend towards significance was observed for metabolic disorders (p=0.08) and children who presented with cirrhosis (p= 0.07),but it was not statistically significant. conclusion: metabolic disorders were the most common cause of liver disorders. a number of children at presentation had underlying cirrhosis. © 2017,pakistan medical association. all rights reserved.