A RARE CAUSE OF ACUTE LIVER FAILURE

Hepatic involvement in systemic amyloidosis is common but is rarely symptomatic. It is usually in the form of hepatomegaly and asymtomatic elevation in serum alkaline phosphatase. Hyperbilirubinemia is rare and signifies worse prognosis. Hepatic failure due to systemic amyloidosis is very rare and it can manifest as acute or subacute liver failure. We report a case of a 55 year old man presenting with progressive jaundice followed within a month by ascites and encephalopathy. He was diagnosed as acute hepatic failure and had a rapidly worsening clinical course with fatal outcome. The diagnosis of amyloidosis was made on postmortem liver biopsy.