Alpers disease: Report of two familial cases

Abstract

Alpers syndrome is usually characterized by a clinical triad of psychomotor retardation, intractable epilepsy and liver failure in infants and young children. It is a hereditary disease with an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. Definitive diagnosis is shown by postmortem examination of the brain and liver. There is no known treatment. In this article two familial cases are reported.