Phenotype-genotype correlations in patients with Wilson's disease.

There is considerable phenotypic variation in Wilson's disease (WD). Some patients present with hepatic disease during the first decade of life and some with neurological degeneration in adolescence or adult life, with or without overt liver disease. Although the absence of neurologic disease in patients with liver disease in childhood or adolescence can be explained by the limited time exposure of the central nervous system to copper toxicity, it is surprising that late-onset neurologic WD can occur without any evidence of liver involvement. This huge variability in the clinical presentation of WD in general reflects our limited knowledge on the natural history of WD. Genetic association studies require the phenotype to be defined as accurately as possible.