[A case of benign recurring intrahepatic cholestasis (Tygstrup-Summerskill and Walshe syndrome)]

The case of a 23-year-old male patient with benign intrahepatic recurrent cholestasis of Summerskill-Tygstrup and Walshe type is presented. The patient had suffered 9 attacks up to 1974. The clinical and histological data of this patient were compared with those in the 65 cases described previously. The most characteristic signs were that the disease began before puberty and the attacks of jaundice with direct hyper bilirubmemia were induced by infections. Histology obtained in acute phase of the disease revealed intrahepatic cholestasis, and there were signs of a non-specific mesenchymal reaction of the liver tissue while the patients were asymptomatic. The serum activity of alkaline phosphatase was increased, gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase and transaminases being normal or close to normal. The pattern of the biochemical findings was characteristic and the patient was recognized among 19,035 other patients hospitalized from 1972-1975 by means of a special computer program. This program may be helpful in detecting patients with this disease from computerized data of hospitalized patients and avoiding unnecessary surgical intervention.