What is Wilson's disease?

What is Wilson's disease? What are the symptoms and treatment methods for Wilson's disease?

Wilson's disease is a rare genetic disorder that causes large amounts of copper to accumulate in the liver and brain in children. It mainly targets the brain and liver, but many other tissues of the body can also be damaged during the course of the disease. What is Wilson's disease? What are the symptoms and treatment methods for Wilson's disease? Here are the details...

Wilson's disease (WD) is a genetic disorder caused by impaired copper metabolism. Organ damage caused by copper accumulating in the liver, brain and many other organs leads to various symptoms and signs. If left untreated, WD can be fatal. WD is a rare disease and its incidence has been reported to be between 0.3-0.7 percent in various populations. The most common age of onset is between 5 and 45 years, but very rare cases have been reported from 3 to 63 years of age.


WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF WILSON'S DISEASE?
Wilson's disease has many different symptoms. Wilson's disease is a congenital disease, but there are no symptoms until copper accumulates in the liver, brain or other organs. Some patients do not show any of the symptoms of Wilson's disease before the disease is diagnosed and treated. Symptoms may be related to the liver, nervous system, mental health, eyes or other organs.

Apart from these symptoms, Wilson's disease can also cause vision-related symptoms. For example, copper build-up in the eyes leads to Kayser-Fleischer rings. Therefore, many people with Wilson's disease may have greenish, goldish or brownish Kayser-Fleischer rings at the edges of the cornea.

HOW IS WILSON'S DISEASE TREATED?
It should be remembered that the treatment of people with Wilson's disease will last a lifetime. Interrupting treatment can lead to acute liver failure. Doctors may order regular blood and urine tests to check how treatment is progressing. Treatment for Wilson's disease usually involves medicines to remove excess copper from the body and zinc to regulate copper absorption in the intestines.