• Sidra Talat, Sabeen Abid Khan, Nismat Javed, and Munir Iqbal Malik.
• Sidra Talat, MBBS, FCPS. Senior Registrar, Department of Paediatrics, Shifa College of Medicine, Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
• Pak J Med Sci. 2020 Sep 1; 36 (6): 1252-1256.

ObjectivesTo determine etiologies, clinical presentations and outcomes of children with fulminant hepatic failure in the first liver transplant center of Pakistan.MethodsIt was a retrospective, observational study, conducted in Paediatric Gastroenterology Department of Shifa International Hospital. Patients between one month to 16 years were included who fulfilled the Pediatric Acute Liver Failure study group (PALFSG) definition of acute liver failure as biochemical evidence of liver injury with no known co-existing chronic liver disease, coagulopathy not corrected by vitamin K, an International Normalized Ratio (INR) greater than 1.5 if the patient has encephalopathy, or greater than 2.0 if the patient does not have encephalopathy. The data collected was recorded on a self-constructed proforma after IRB approval.ResultsThere were 28 patients in the study which ncluded 17 males and 11 females with a mean age of 72.86±52.50 months. The most common etiologies were Hepatitis A (29%) in isolation or co-infection with Wilson Disease, typhoid fever. It was followed by seronegative hepatitis (29%). Majority (64%) had acute presentation (7 to 28 days), jaundice (82%) being the most common symptom. Severity of encephalopathy was significantly associated with outcome (p=0.02). There were 6 (21%) patients who succumbed to death.ConclusionsThe study highlights infective diseases as the predominant etiology causing fulminant liver failure in children. Our study highlights lower mortality in children.Copyright: © Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences.

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