It is estimated that approximately 2-10 people per 100,000 people suffer from autoimmune hepatitis, a particularly rare disease that can be controlled with timely medical intervention.
But it is the rarity of the disease and the importance of early treatment that make diagnosing it quickly and efficiently in affected children significant.
In the first part of the interview HCP live Mercedes Martinez, M.D., medical director of the Pediatric Abdominal Organ Transplantation and Intestinal Transplantation Program at the Center for Liver Diseases and NewYork-Presbyterian Abdominal Organs Transplant centers share recommendations for adequately identifying and diagnosing autoimmune hepatitis in children.
Martinez acknowledges the trap many of his peers may fall into: Because autoimmune hepatitis is so rare, diagnosis may not be the first thing doctors think of. In particular, it is critical for pediatricians to prioritize the risks of patients with liver disease burden for appropriate referral to hematologists more familiar with such cases.
“You have to think about autoimmune hepatitis,” Martinez said. “But when you look at how often, about 12% of the consultations we do in our large centers, in our liver disease center, about 12% of patients may have autoimmune liver disease, even though it’s an autoimmune Sexual liver disease. A rare condition.”
Unfortunately, the field currently has no characterization tests for autoimmune hepatitis, and most patients have advanced liver disease, including cirrhosis. For pediatricians and caregivers, other clear signs may be a child’s failure to thrive, jaundice, coagulopathy, or acute liver failure.
Martinez recommends that his colleagues prioritize laboratory testing for antibody serology in pediatric patients before referral to a gastroenterologist or hepatologist.
“The backbone of diagnosis is histology,” Martinez said. “Being positive for an autoimmune marker does not mean you have autoimmune hepatitis, but it does mean you need to consider immune hepatitis as a possible diagnosis.”
From that point on, a liver biopsy will help determine the cause of the patient’s inflammation and provide a more definite diagnosis.