Pediatric Cirrhosis

What are the signs and symptoms of Pediatric Cirrhosis?

Early symptoms

• Abdominal swelling

• Fatigue (extreme tiredness)

• General weakness

• Painful or tender abdomen

• Reduced appetite

• Unintentional weight loss

Later symptoms

• Bruising easily

• Enlarged liver

• Enlarged spleen

• Infections in the abdomen

• Itching

• Feeling confused or unusually forgetful

• Jaundice 

• Liver cancer

• Loss of body hair

• Reddened palms of the hands

• Retaining water

• Swelling of the legs and abdomen

• Tremors

• Urine that is dark in color

• Vomiting blood

• Wounds that take unusually long to heal

What are the causes of Pediatric Cirrhosis?

Causes of cirrhosis in children can include:

• Alpha1-antitrypsin deficiency - hereditary condition that can lead to lung and liver disease

• Autoimmune hepatitis — inflammation of the liver caused by the body’s immune system mistakenly attacking the liver

• Bile duct diseases — affect the tube that carries bile from the gallbladder to the small intestine during the normal course of digestion

• Cystic fibrosis

• Exposure to certain drugs and toxins — including methotrexate (medication used to treat cancer), rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis) and high levels of vitamin A

• Fatty liver disease — group of conditions that affect the liver of a person without a history of alcoholism

• Glycogen storage disease — condition in which a child’s body is unable to process or store the energy found in foods

• Hepatitis B  — viral infection that affects the liver and causes both acute (short-term) and chronic (ongoing) complications

• Hepatitis C — viral infection that leads to inflammation of the liver and other related complications

• Tyrosinemia — genetic condition that causes problems breaking down a specific amino acid – called tyrosine – that is found in most sources of protein

• Wilson’s disease — hereditary condition in which excessive amounts of copper accumulates in a child’s organs