Search

The combination of neonatal intrahepatic cholestasis and lymphoedema in feet and legs is a specific syndrome named after the Norwegian paediatrician Øystein Aagenaes, who described the syndrome in 1968. The condition is autosomal recessively inherited and the gene is located to 15q, but not yet identified. The condition is particularly frequent in the southern most part of Norway and the gene frequency is estimated to be about 3%. The development of small lymphoid vessels is probably deficient around the small biliary tracts and in general. Aagenaes' syndrome is found in patients from other parts of Europe and the US, but more than half of the cases are of Norwegian origin.

Hereditary intrahepatic cholestasis with lymph oedema is now a well defined autosomal recessive inherited syndrome. More than 75% of the known cases (about 40) are Norwegian, and most of these came from a few communities in the south-western part of Norway. Cholestasis is present prior to or shortly after birth. With modern treatment the cholestasis usually improves considerably during the first two years of life, but periods of recurrent cholestasis occur later. In some cases, lymph oedema is present at birth, but usually comes to light during childhood. Lymph oedema needs continuous treatment. As a rule, the prognosis for the liver disease is good, but cirrhosis has developed in about 15% of the Norwegian cases. As for the pathogenesis of the cholestasis, the hypothesis is that the cause is an anomaly of the lymph function.