Subclinical Liver Dysfunction in One-Month-Old Infants with a Low Activity of Vitamin K Dependent Coagulant Factors Assessed by Normotest

TAZAWA, Y., HAYAMIZU, S., TAMAOKI, K. and CHIBA, R. Subclinical Liver Dysfunction in One-Month-Old Infants with a Low Activity of Vitamin K Dependent Coagulant Factors Assessed by Normotest. Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 1990, 162 (2), 195-201 - To clarify features of late vitamin K deficiency hemorrhagic disease in Japanese infants, seventeen of 1, 687 infants screened by normotests were examined for signs and symptoms suggesting hepatobiliary diseases. Clinical observations disclosed findings suggesting hepatobiliary diseases in 7 of the 17 selected infants with normotest values of less than 40%, and 11 infants had abnormal results in one or more liver function tests. Taken together, 14 of the 17 infants had findings suggesting hepatobiliary diseases. Upon vitamin K supplementation normotest values improved in various degrees in all infants, whether or not they had signs or symptoms of hepatobiliary diseases. Late vitamin K deficiency hemorrhagic disease of infancy may be related to subclinical hepatobiliary diseases.