Enlarged liver in children – What does this mean?
An enlarged liver in newborns can be an indication of hemolysis (increased breakdown of blood), which can be triggered, for example, by a blood group incompatibility between mother and child. The liver then increases the production of new blood cells and therefore increases in size. Other causes in newborns are an infection with the cytomegalovirus during pregnancy or a preductal aortic isthmus stenosis, a congenital constriction in the aorta.
In older children, for example, the liver is enlarged as a result of glycogen storage diseases or lysosomal storage diseases. Other diseases are autoimmune or viral inflammation of the liver, congenital heart defects, leukemia or alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency. Less common, but also possible, is enlargement of the liver due to fatty degeneration or bile stasis. Storage diseases – Which are there?
Enlarged liver with cysts
Cysts are hollow spaces within an organ in which there is fluid. Small and numerically few cysts are a common incidental finding during ultrasound examination of the abdomen. They are usually only pathological if they become inflamed or a nearby blood vessel bleeds into them.
These “normal” cysts usually do not lead to a significant enlargement of the liver. An inherited polycystic liver disease has many and large liver cysts that grow in the course of the disease. Liver cysts can also occur in polycystic kidney disease. The cysts in polycystic diseases lead to an enlarged liver and impair the function of the liver.
Enlarged liver after pregnancy
During pregnancy, fatty liver with inflammation can occur for no apparent reason, the frequency is about 1:10. 000 pregnancies. The first pregnancy or multiple pregnancies are more frequently affected. The acute one begins with nausea and pain in the right upper abdomen between the 30th and 38th week of pregnancy. Within 1-2 weeks, pregnancy fatty liver leads to kidney failure, failure of the blood clotting system and pancreatitis.The pregnancy must be terminated immediately after diagnosis by a caesarean section.
