[Benign postoperative intrahepatic cholestasis].

The authors report the clinical, biochemical, histological and etiologic characteristics of 24 patients with the syndrome of benign intra-hepatic post-operative cholestasis. Jaundice appeared early in the post-operative period, from the first to the 12th post-operative day. All patients had received blood transfusions. In 23 patients, the post-operative course was complicated, chiefly by local infection or septicemia. Hyperbilirubinemia ranged from 2 to 28 mg per 100 ml and was mainly conjugated; serum alkaline phosphatase activity was normal or moderately elevated; in 3 patients, it was markedly elevated; serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase activity was normal on 7 patients, moderatly increased in 15, and markedly increased in one. Liver histology was normal in 6 patients, and showed minimal lesions (cholestasis and slight portal inflammatory changes) in 3. Jaundice did not appear to modify the final outcome. It appears to be due both to increased production of bilirubin (as a result of blood transfusions) and to decreased excretion of bilirubin by the liver (as a result of the surgical operation and of infection).