Caroli's disease: Description of a case with a benign clinical course.

Caroli's disease is a rare congenital disorder characterized by cystic dilatation of the large in-trahepatic bile ducts. The most frequent complications due to biliary stasis are cholelithiasis, cholangitis and sepsis as well as an increased risk of cholangiocarcinoma. Patients may have a history of intermittent abdominal pain, pruritus and/or symptoms of cholangitis. It is rarely diagnosed in childhood. A 12-year-old boy with isolated Caroli's disease is described. This child presented at the age of 2 years, with 4 episodes of recurrent bacterial infections. Interestingly he remained asymptomatic for over 10 years, between the second and third episode. During the 4th episode, when he presented with fever and slight abdominal pain, the diagnosis was made on the basis of radiological findings: U/S, CT, MRI and especially with MRCP, in relation with a more typical picture, resembling cholangitis. Since then he has been followed-up systematically for ten years and remains in good clinical condition without further relapses and with unchanged radiological findings. This atypically benign course of Caroli's disease, with intermittent asymptomatic periods, without any treatment, is very rare.

Henoch-Schönlein purpura: a long-term prospective study in Greek children.

OBJECTIVE: Henoch-Schönlein purpura is a common vasculitis of childhood. The present study, comprising 74 children enrolled during a 9-year period, aimed to delineate the clinical spectrum and the long term follow-up of the disease. METHODS: Patients were diagnosed strictly on the criteria established by the American College of Rheumatology. The diagnosis was further strengthened by a skin biopsy performed in more than half of cases (42/74), which revealed leukocytoclastic vasculitis in all patients, whereas IgA deposits were found in 37/42 children. RESULTS: There was a predominance of boys (41 males), and the mean age of study population was 5.2 +/- 2.54 years. Palpable purpura was identified in 73/74 children, whereas transient arthritis manifested in 68/74 children. Gastrointestinal blood loss was elicited in 30 children, 11 of whom had also renal involvement. The latter was seen in 19/74 (25.7%) children, and in the long term follow-up (extended to 2004, from 4-12 years, mean duration 7.3 years), 2 children remained with persistent occult hematuria. Relapses occurred in 49 children (66%), and half of them experienced more than 1 recurrence. Arthritis was less common in the relapsed episodes, and this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Relapses tended to be more common in children with renal involvement and colicky abdominal pain without however reaching statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Despite common relapses, this disease is benign in the long term even if severe renal involvement can occur during its active period. Recurrences often differ to some extent from the initial episode with arthritis being less common with relapses.