Polycystic disease presenting in childhood.

Both the adult and the childhood type of polycystic disease of liver and kidney may present in childhood, but they may be clearly distinguished histologically. The childhood type appears to involve a similar disorder of kidney and liver and is always recessive. It may be subdivided into four subtypes of increasing severity-perinatal, neonatal, infantile and juvenile-which breed true within families. The first causes death in the neonatal period, while the last may permit survival into adult life.