Experience with choledocal cyst.

In a series of ten children operated upon for congenital choledocal cyst, it was noted that the diagnosis had often been delayed because of intermittent or moderate symptoms during the first year of life. We favor resection of the cyst, advocated by many authors recently, but it should be emphasized that this procedure is not without risk and may be quite a difficult undertaking. Late results were satisfactory on the whole, even in one child with severe portal hypertension. However, the moderate fibrosis found at operative biopsy and the still slightly enlarged liver at follow-up examination are reasons for long-term observation of these patients.