Biliary atresia chronic liver disease

There is very little evidence relating to the role of ROMs in cholestatic liver disease. Serum selenium and glutathione peroxidase activity are decreased in humans with intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (Kauppila et al., 1987). Low levels of vitamin E have been reported in patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, and in children with Alagille s syndrome or biliary atresia (Knight et al., 1986 Jeffrey etal., 1987 Lemonnier etal., 1987 Babin etal., 1988 Kaplan et al., 1988 Sokol etal., 1989). Serum levels of Mn-SOD are increased in patients with all stages of primary biliary cirrhosis compared with patients with other forms of chronic liver disease, although whether this causes or results from the disease process is unclear (Ono etal., 1991). 

Alcohol consumption is the leading cause of chronic liver disease in adults. Biliary atresia is a leading cause of chronic liver disease in children. 

Biliary atresia (BA) accounts for the majority of chronic liver diseases without a genetic cause, and... 

The conditions for which hepatic transplantation has been applied differ in pediatric and adult cases and are shown in Tables 1 and 2. 50% of the pediatric cases have been transplanted for biliary atresia.The majority of the other pediatric recipients have been transplanted for alpha 1 antitrypsin deficiency or chronic liver disease of unknown ethiology. In contrast, the leading conditions for which hepatic transplantation has been applied in adult recipients are postnecrotic cirrhosis, primary biliary cirrhosis and primary hepatic malignancy. 

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