Wilson's disease (WD) is a hereditary disorder of the copper metabolism with very varied clinical and biochemical symptoms. Hepatic and neurological forms are the most frequent manifestations of this rare disease. In schoolchildren and adolescents symptoms of liver damage predominate. In a retrospective study 19 patients were evaluated with biochemical signs of hepatopathy manifested before the age of 18 years. The diagnosis of WD was established at the age of 7 to 27 years. One female patient was admitted with fulminant hepatic failure which was treated by acute transplantation of the liver in the Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague. Only 9 of 18 patients with chronic hepatic affection at the time of diagnosis met the Sternlieb diagnostic criteria. These patients had reduced ceruloplasmin levels (0.08-0.18 g/l) and a high copper content in the hepatic dry matter (783 ug/g +/- 323 [SD]). In the remaining 9 patients the ceruloplasmin level was normal, however, in 8 a high copper content of the hepatic dry matter was found (696 ug/g (+)- 352[SD]. The last patient from this group had Kayser-Fleischer's (K-F) ring. It was possible to confirm the high copper content in the hepatic dry matter only after one year's penicillinamine treatment because at the time of the diagnosis poor coagulation did not permit to perform a liver biopsy. There was a statistically significant difference in the copper content of the hepatic dry matter in patients meeting and not meeting Sternlieb's criteria. Statistically significant differences between both groups were found in the plasma copper levels and in the 24-hour urinary copper excretion. Histological examination of the liver under a light microscope revealed findings from minimal changes associated with the presence of glycogen nuclei in hepatocytes to the picture of active chronic hepatitis. In all 19 patients the gene mutation H1069Q was examined and the results were positive in 39.8%. In 3 asymptomatic patients it was present in the homozygous form.
Conclusion: Early detection of the atypical form of WD remains very difficult. The gold standard is still in all cases assessment of copper in the dry liver tissue. In the near future an important place will be held also by direct DNA analysis although its use is limited not only by the large number of known mutations but also by the financial costs of the method.