Therapeutic and diagnostic implications of acquired choledochal obstruction in infancy: spontaneous resolution in three infants.

Three infants aged 2 days to 11 weeks with conjugated hyperbilirubinenemia, had sonographically documented dilated common hepatic bile ducts, and echogenic material in the gallbladder. A 2-day-old infant, born to a diabetic mother, had none of the classic predisposing factors for cholelithiasis, and two infants had received total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and TPN plus furosemide. The first infant after receiving 4 1/2 weeks of TPN and furosemide, developed common duct obstruction with increasing bilirubin and hepatic duct caliber over a 12-day period. An operation was scheduled; however, on the following day the bilirubin dropped abruptly and surgery was canceled. The experience with this infant encouraged conservative management in two subsequent infants with similar clinical and sonographic findings. Spontaneous resolution occurred 9 days after the onset of common duct obstruction in one infant and after 16 days in the other.