Hepatic cirrhosis inyoungadults: association with adolescent onsetofalcohol andparenteral heroin abuse

~~~~~~~~6 7 abusers during adolescence6 andyoungadulthood,7 adetailed description ofsuchpatients hasnotbeen reported. We report herein theclinical, biochemical, and pathological findings inthese youngpatients. After several youngadults withcirrhosis hadbeenseen, webegan acomparison oftheir HLA antigens with those ofethnically-matched controls withsubstance abuse butwithout liver disease. Otherinvestigators havefound associations between HLA antigens and alcoholic liver disease, 8andinautoimmune chronic active hepatitis9 a particularly strong association withHLA antigens wasfoundinthesubset of patients withearly onsetoftheir disease.