[Copper levels in the tissues of patients with Wilson's disease]

The evaluation of tissue copper concentration is essential for the diagnosis of Wilson's disease. It is characterized by symptoms of the damages to parenchymatous organs, primarily liver and brain, due to chronic copper intoxication. The paper presents the autopsy tissue analysis of a 39-year-old patient diagnosed to suffer from the Wilson's disease while still alive. The patient died from sepsis due to burns caused by direct flame exposure. The standard histochemical staining of tissue samples failed to demonstrate the presence of copper but it was qualitatively proved by line spectrum-based mass spectrography. The copper concentrations in the liver, brain, and kidney (240, 73.8, and 30 micrograms/g wet tissue weight, respectively), measured by flame-atomic absorption spectrometry, were significantly elevated. In this study, the Wilson's disease was verified by a postmortem determination of increased copper concentration in the tissues. The results obtained contribute to the understanding of this rare disease.