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Cholelithiasis and cholecystectomy in infants
Perugini P , Verdin V , Pirlet C , Bequet E , Ledure F , Demarche M
Rev Med Liege 2022, 77(7-8),443-447Abstract : Cholelithiasis is rare in children and even more so in infants. We report the case of a 3-month-old patient with cholestatic jaundice secondary to an obstruction of the terminal portion of the bile duct. The treatment applied in this patient was a cholecystectomy with trans-cystic cholangiography and common bile duct clearance. The evolution was excellent. The current literature on biliary lithiasis in children and infants is poor in large cohort studies. The various treatments proposed, if necessary, include biliary lavage by percutaneous puncture, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with sphincterotomy and laparoscopic or open cholecystectomy with intraoperative cholangiography. None of these procedures has shown superiority over the others. Therefore, no treatment algorithm is currently defined. Patients are treated on a case-by-case basis according to their symptoms, previous history and the level of expertise of each centre for these rare, difficult and specific procedures.
