Introduction:

Spontaneous bile duct perforation is a rare condition characterized by non-traumatic disruption of the bile duct in apparently healthy patients. It is a serious potentially lethal situation, but correctly diagnosed and treated its prognosis is excellent.

Objetive:

To characterize the main clinical-surgical elements expressed in a series of 5 patients operated in a national referral service.

Case presentation:

The experience with a series of cases during a period of 16 years in a single institution is presented. The condition was observed mainly in newborn girls and infants with an average age of 4 months, and presented clinically as cholestasis accompanied by abdominal distension, biliary ascites, acholia, and signs of peritoneal irritation. 80% of the cases were operated primarily in the "William Soler" hospital, and in one case the procedure was performed after a laparotomy for a possible acute appendicitis, in another hospital. The diagnosis was based on the clinical picture described, abdominal ultrasound, paracentesis with measurement of the ascitic liquid bilirubin/serum bilirubin index, and intraoperative cholangiography. Definitive surgery was performed immediately and consisted of: peritoneal lavage, diagnostic cholangiography, Roux-en-Y liver and jejunostomy repair and drainage placement.

Conclusions:

The treatment performed was effective and safe in all cases, with an excellent evolution, no major complications and total postoperative survival. Intraoperative cholangiography made it possible to identify the site of perforation and to diagnose associated malformations such as congenital biliary dilatations and anomalies of the biliary-pancreatic junction.

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