[The indications for and limits to the surgical treatment of congenital dilatations of the intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts].

Congenital cystic dilatations of the biliary ducts are defects in the genetic program which are transmitted in an autosomal recessive way. Todani classified cystic dilatations of extra and intrahepatic ducts in 5 types. In classified cystic dilatations of extra and intrahepatic ducts in 5 types. In "N. Gh. Lupu" Surgical Clinical were treated 9 cases of congenital dilatations of the biliary tree during the last 40 years (1958-1998); five of them were belonging to the type V Todani (Caroli's disease), three to the type I Todani and one case in the type IV a of Todoni's classification. The mean age of the patients was 42.4 years, five of them being men and 4 women. Surgical treatment was particular to each case depending on age, associated diseases, the length of disease's evolution and the general state of the patient. The prognosis of this disease is a reserved one.