Liver pathology in children with AIDS: a comparison between the South American and North American population

Liver tissue from autopsies of twenty-nine cases of children with AIDS were collected from three major South America (S.4) pediatric hospitals. The hepatopathologic findings were classified in the same fashion as in a series of sixty-one children with AIDS from North America (NA): inflammation, non-specific, lymphoproliferative disorders, and giant cell transformation. By comparing both groups. we noted that the SA children were Younger at time of death consistent with a more rapid progression of the disease. Opportunistic infections varied with a higher prevalence of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in SA children. The histopathologic features of CMV in the liter of SA children were associated with a conspicuous inflammation absent in the NA group. Finally, different non-specific hepatic changes were found in SA children, including one case of peliosis hepatis.