Wilson's Disease (Hepatolenticular Degeneration) and Pregnancy

SUCCESSFUL PREGNANCY punctuating Wilson's disease (hepatolenticular degeneration) has been rarely reported.1-5Most case reports on women in the child-bearing age mention scanty and irregular menses, and it is further likely that the early development of tremor or cirrhosis might constitute a bar to marriage and pregnancy. Both Wilson's disease and pregnancy are associated with alteration in copper metabolism, in particular, that of ceruloplasmin. While this protein is markedly reduced in most cases of Wilson's disease, it is usually increased in pregnancy and by the administration of estrogens.6,7In pregnant patients with Wilson's disease, ceruloplasmin was found by Sternlieb and Scheinberg5to rise to almost normal concentrations, but other observers2found no significant increase. Uniformly, however, there appears to have been significant clinical improvement in the severity of Wilson's disease during, and in the months following, pregnancy. The following case report describes a patient with long-standing Wilson's