Prolonged Obstructive Jaundice

Abstract

LIVER INVOLVEMENT can be demonstrated in about 25% of cases of cystic fibrosis by careful clinical and autopsy evaluation, although jaundice is rare and hepatic function studies are usually normal. 1 A characteristic biliary cirrhosis with concretions becomes more common as age increases; sometimes this causes portal hypertension, requiring a shunt operation. 1,2 In neonates with cystic fibrosis liver disease is not usually clinically apparent. Gross and microscopic abnormalities of the liver, the biliary tree, 3 and the gallbladder 4 have been described, but only a few instances of prolonged neonatal obstructive jaundice have been reported. 2,5-7 This report describes a case of prolonged obstructive jaundice in a newborn with meconium ileus and jejunal atresia. Liver biopsy during a second operation for intestinal obstruction at 12 weeks of age showed regressing liver pathology at a time when liver disease had become clinically inapparent. Report of a Case This infant (#1354593)