Neonatal hemochromatosis

Neonatal Hemochromatosis is a rare and severe liver disease. Its characteristics are similar to hereditary hemochromatosis, where iron deposition causes damage to the liver and other organs and tissues.

Causes
The causes of neonatal hemochromatosis are still unknown, however recent research has led to the hypothesis that it is an alloimmune disease (see alloimmunity). Evidence supporting this hypothesis includes the high recurrence rate within sibships (>80%). This evidence along with other research indicates that Neonatal Hemochromatosis could be classified as a Congenital Alloimmune Hepatitis.

Treatment
Effective treatment of the disease has been confined to liver transplants. An antioxidant chelation cocktail has also been reported as having some success though its effectiveness cannot be confirmed.

Based on the alloimmune cause hypothesis, a new treatment involving high-dose immunoglobulin to pregnant mothers who have had a previous pregnancy with a confirmed neonatal hemochromatosis outcome, has provided very encouraging results.

Related conditions
Neonatal hemochromatosis is sometimes confused with Juvenile Hemochromatosis, which is a hereditary hemochromatosis, caused by mutations of a gene called hemojuvelin. While the symptoms and outcomes from these two diseases are similar, the causes appear to be different.