[Acute giant cell hepatitis in a 17-year old man]

Abuse of ecstasy is the second most frequent cause of acute liver failure in young adults less than 25 years of age. Typically, the disease has an acute onset and runs a severe course with jaundice, coagulopathy and a tendency to hypoglycemia. Transplantation of the liver may be required. The histological characteristics are not yet sufficiently known. We report the case of a 17-year-old patient with a clinically severe, protracted course, presenting a giant cell hepatitis in the liver biopsy.