[Diagnosis and treatment of biliary tract obstruction in children with biliary atresia].

Fifty children from one month to 14 years of age were examined and subjected to surgical treatment. Atresia of the bile ducts was diagnosed in 34 of them, hypoplasia of the bile ducts in 5, and a cyst of the choledochus in 11. Biliary atresia was managed by different variants of portoenterostomy, mostly after Kasai I, and two operations of cholecystojejunostomy were conducted in the so-called correctable type of atresia. 5 patients with biliary hypoplasia were treated by cholecystectomy, lavage of the bile ducts, and denervation of the hepatic artery. The following operations were carried out on 11 patients with a cyst of the choledochus: extirpation of the cyst with subsequent hepaticojejunostomy in 4, cystojejunostomy in 5, and cystoduodenostomy in 2 patients. Ultrasonic examination of the liver was undertaken in all 50 patients with impaired patency of the biliary tract as a screening test. Nine patients died in the postoperative period.