title: Non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis among children admitted in a tertiary care hospital of Kolkata: a search for possible aetiologies.
abstract: Non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis (NCPF) is reported to be a very infrequent cause of portal hypertension (PHT) in paediatric population, but a number of cases of NCPF were found in the paediatric ward of NRS Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata which prompted us to do a study with objectives to find out the proportion of NCPF cases among the study population (the total number of PHT cases admitted in the study period) and their sociodemographic profile with special reference to residence in arsenic affected areas. It was a clinic-based retrospective study. All children below 12 years during the study period (August 2005 to July 2008) with clinical features suggestive of PHT were screened for NCPF. Relevant investigations were done and guardians of all the PHT patients were interviewed with a predesigned pretested questionnaire. Among the total 134 cases of PHT, 29 (21.64%) were due to NCPF and the remaining 105 (78.36%) cases were due to other causes of PHT other than NCPF. Among the sociodemographic variables studied significant association was found with residency in arsenic affected areas. The study highlights the need of extensive studies to validate the association in the paediatric population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Medicine, NRS Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata 700014.
authors.forename: Abhik
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Tryambak
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Samanta
authors.forename: Sarmila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mallik
authors.forename: Dipak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: Sutapa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ganguly
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005355:Fibrosis / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D006975:Hypertension, Portal / Q000209:etiology; D007194:India; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D001151:Arsenic