Pediatric hypertrophic gastropathy.

Four previously healthy children presented in a 6-week period with marked hypoproteinemia without liver disease, malnutrition, or significant proteinuria. They all had strikingly similar radiographic findings consisting of enlarged folds confined to the fundus and body of the stomach. Three of the children had prodromal symptoms suggesting a viral illness. Cytomegalovirus was cultured from the urine in all cases and from the gastric biopsy specimens in three patients. Two of these patients also showed intranuclear inclusions in their biopsy specimens compatible with cytomegalovirus. It is not certain if cytomegalovirus was the cause of the illness.

Sonography in the diagnosis and management of hepatic amebic abscess in children.

Hepatic amebic abscess is a potentially fatal infection which is difficult to diagnose in children. Sonography is an ideal non-invasive imaging tool which can prove invaluable in the diagnosis and management of hepatic amebic abscess. Sonographic findings should suggest the correct diagnosis in most instances. This allows prompt initiation of therapy, forestalling life-threatening complications. Sonography is also an extremely useful non-invasive means of following response to therapy in children with hepatic amebic abscesses.

Amebiasis: unusual radiographic manifestations.

Unusual radiographic manifestations of amebiasis have not previously been emphasized in the literature. These unusual manifestations often mimic other, more common disease entities. A recent case of urinary bladder-cervical amebiasis prompted a review of other unusual manifestations of amebiasis. Over a 25-year period, unusual cases involving the musculoskeletal, genitourinary, cardiopulmonary, and gastrointestinal systems have been encountered. Primary amebiasis of any organ may occur without clinical evidence of gastrointestinal or hepatic involvement. These unusual cases illustrate the clinical spectrum of amebiasis and will clarify aspects of this interesting disease entity.

A mixed hamartoma of the liver: light and electron microscopy.

The gross, microscopic, and ultrastructural features of a mixed liver hamartoma occurring in a three month old infant are reported. The differentiation from two solid liver masses, focal nodular hyperplasia and liver cell adenoma is emphasized. Mesenchymal hamartomas, though usually cystic rather than solid masses, share the histologic feature of fibroductular tissue with mixed liver hamartomas and focal nodular hyperplasia. Only the mixed liver hamartoma has extremely broad fields of ductules and an embryonic type of hepatocyte at the ultrastructural level. These and other hepatic lesions show morphologic evidence of transformation of liver cells into biliary epithelial cells in association with vascular connective tissue.

Collaborative study of the effects of human growth hormone in growth hormone deficiency: IV. Treatment with low doses of human growth hormone based on body weight.

In order to define the minimum effective dose of human growth hormone (GH) in growth hormone deficient children, GH was administered to three groups of patients based on their body weight. Five children who received 0.01 International Unit (IU) GH/kg three times a week (tiw) failed to respond with a significant increase in their rate of growth. A dose of 0.03 IU GH/kg tiw increased the growth rate of 12 patients from 3.5 +/- 0.4 (SE) cm/year to 6.4 +/- 0.4 (SE) cm/year (P less than 0.001) during the first 12 months of therapy. Eight children (67%) larger than or equal to 6.0 cm/year. A similar increase growth rate from 3.6 +/- 0.4 (SE) cm/year to 7.3 +/- 0.4 (SE) cm/year (P less than 0.001) was observed over the first 12 months of therapy in 16 growth hormone deficient children who were given 0.06 IU GH/kg tiw. Thirteen children (81%) grew larger than or equal to 6.0 cm/year. During a second year of treatment, children receiving either 0.03 or 0.06 UI GH/kg tiw again showed a significant increase in their rate of growth. However, the response was significantly less than that observed during the first year of treatment. Comparison of these results with those available in the literature suggests that the most efficient, although not necessarily the optimal, initial dose of GH in children with growth hormone deficiency is 0.06 IU GH/kg administered three times a week.