Fetal liver disease may precede extrahepatic siderosis in neonatal hemochromatosis

Three children of a mother with biopsy-confirmed posttransfusional hepatitis of undetermined etiology (non-A, non-B hepatitis) died in utero or in infancy. All had liver disease of intrauterine onset. The two liveborn children died of the consequences of severe hepatic insufficiency manifest at birth and met clinicopathologic criteria for neonatal hemochromatosis. Although hepatic architecture in the stillborn fetus was markedly disordered, with hepatocyte giant cell transformation, extrahepatic siderosis was not present and hepatic siderosis was minimal. These findings indicate that in some cases of neonatal hemochromatosis, extrahepatic siderosis may be caused by hepatic injury rather than primarily due to excessive transport of iron from mother to fetus and support speculation that in some instances an infective agent may be responsible.