Alagilles syndrome: report of a case

Abstract

A patient with chronic cholestasis beginning during his neonatal period is reported. Diagnosis was made at the age of five months. In adition, the patient had the characteristic facies, failure of anterior vertebral arch fusion (butterfly vertebrae), and cardiac murmur, as major clinical manifestations of the syndrome; also he had growth retardation, a minor clinical manifestation. Histologic features revealed paucity of interlobular biliar ducts. Cholestasis persisted and the patient began to have portal hypertension and died at the age of four years with hepatic failure. Postmortem studies showed a hepatic cirrhosis without neoplasic changes.