F. Ito et al., THE PROGNOSTIC-SIGNIFICANCE OF BILIARY BILIRUBIN CONJUGATES IN BILIARY ATRESIA, European journal of pediatric surgery, 5(5), 1995, pp. 271-273
Nine patients with biliary atresia (BA) were investigated from the asp
ect of biliary bilirubin conjugates. They were classified arbitrarily
into the good prognostic group in which jaundice disappeared (serum to
tal bilirubin equal or below 1.0 mg/dl), and the poor prognostic group
in which persistent jaundice was observed for more than 12 months. Th
e ratio of biliary bilirubin diconjugate (BDC) increased in all patien
ts of the two groups by the first month after operation. Although ther
e was no significant difference in daily bilirubin excretion within 1-
3 postoperative days, the BDC ratio in the good prognostic group was s
ignificantly higher than that in the poor prognostic group (p < 0.01).
The study indicated that the ratio of BDC was an early prognostic det
erminant of BA patients. The prognosis of BA patients was much influen
ced by the ability of bilirubin conjugation in the early postoperative
days.