hepatic involvement in haemochromatosis

Last reviewed 01/2018

95% of symptomatic patients with haemochromatosis have liver involvement.

Liver manifestations may range from slight hepatomegaly to a firm cirrhotic liver (1).

Moderate e hypertransaminasaemia (less than 2-3 times the upper normal limit) may be the only hepatic abnormality in some patients (1)

The systemic signs of liver disease (e.g. - portal hypertension or hepatic failure) are less marked in haemochromatosis than in other causes of cirrhosis (1).

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic haemochromatosis patients is 200 fold higher than the general population. The incidence of hepatoma in patients with cirrhosis is 30%.

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