ABSTRACT
There are few cases reported of autoinmune hepatitis (AIH) tipe 2 presenting as fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) in children. The purpose of this study was to report three girls with AIH type 2 that presented as FHF. METHODS: Over a period of 12 years, 123 patients with AIH diagnosed based on international criteria, 9 (7 per cent were type 2.3 of them presented as FHF. Other etiologies (viral, metabolic and toxic) were ruled out. The treatment was started with prednisone (2 mg-kg-day) and azathioprine (2 mg-kg-day). EVOLUTION: Patients 1 and 3 died while waiting for liver transplant (LT) at 72 and 48 hours after initiating medical treatment. Patient 2 underwent LT3 days after starting treatment, with excellent evolution at 3 years and 7 months of follow up. CONCLUSIONS: 1--AIH type 2 was very infrequent in our group. 2--33 per cent of cases had initial presentation as FHF. 3--The course of the disease was aggressive, not responding to immunosupreessive therapy. The evolution was unfavorable in all patients. 4--LT is an alternative treatment for this severe disease.