Wilson’s disease: Transplantation when all else has failed

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Experience with liver transplantation for patients with Wilson’s disease who have major neurological impairment is limited, and this report describes the results obtained in two such patients. The first was a 30-year-old man with a 14-month history of hepatic and neurological impairment. In spite of treatment with d-penicillamine, he developed increasing dysarthria, dysphagia, akinesia and rigidity of all four limbs, and required continuous nursing care. Following transplantation, liver function was almost normal from four weeks onwards, but recovery of neurological function was much slower and was not seen until two to three months after surgery. By four months he was sufficiently mobile to be discharged, and when he returned for assessment at eight months, no abnormal neurological signs were detectable. The second patient was a 27-year-old woman with worsening liver dysfunction for eight years; one year previously she had developed dysarthria, akinesia, a fine tremor and moderate rigidity of all limbs as well as marked psychological impairment. There was no improvement on treatment with d-penicillamine or trientine, but as liver function returned to normal two months after liver grafting, her neurological and psychological function began to improve so that by three months she could be discharged.