Abstract

HONDAL ALVAREZ, Norma  and  SILVERIO GARCIA, Cesar. Behavior of newborn and infant cholestasis in the "William Soler" Children Hospital. Rev Cubana Pediatr [online]. 2010, vol.82, n.4, pp. 13-19. ISSN 1561-3119.

INTRODUCTION. The small newborns and infants have a functional and anatomical immaturity justifying that the liver diseases present in these ages have the jaundice as the main sign. The list of processes causing cholestasis during this period is very large including structural, extrahepatic, intrahepatic anomalies and also processes altering the mechanisms synthesis and the excretion of bile salts. The aim of present study was to describe the behavior of the cases of infants presenting with cholestasis seen in the Hepatology Service of the "William Soler" Children General Hospital, assessed in a programmed way between January, 2004 and December, 2006. METHODS. A retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. Sample included 76 patients diagnosed with cholestasis, assessed in a programmed way during this period. Variables analyzed were: sex, gestational age and birth weight, perinatal and postnatal backgrounds, presence or absence of cholestasis. A database was designed in SPSS (version 12) and the variables were analyzed in percentage way. RESULTS. There was predominance of male newborns (45, 59,2%), term (63, 82,9%) of normal weight (50,65,7%) and without perinatal and postnatal backgrounds. Only in the 9,2% of cases the cholestasis was associated with a liver failure. Frequency of intrahepatic and extrahepatic cholestasis was similar. The major causes of cholestasis present were: biliary tracts atresia (24, 31,5%), idiopathic neonatal hepatitis(15, 19,8%), cytomegalovirus infection (14, 18,5%) and bile thickening (9,11,9%). CONCLUSIONS. Behavior of different causes of cholestasis is heterogeneous and the differences as regards the frequencies of cholestasis causes is in some extent a reflection of the differences in the composition of the group of series.

Keywords : Cholestasis; intrahepatic cholestasis; extrahepatic cholestasis; biliary atresia; neonatal hepatitis.

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