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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2015) |
| Extrahepatic Biliary atresia |
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Operative view of complete extrahepatic biliary atresia.
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| Classification and external resources |
| Specialty |
medical genetics |
| ICD-10 |
Q44.2 |
| ICD-9-CM |
751.61 |
| OMIM |
210500 |
| DiseasesDB |
1400 |
| MedlinePlus |
001145 |
| eMedicine |
ped/237 |
| MeSH |
C06.130.120.123 |
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[edit on Wikidata]
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Biliary atresia, also known as extrahepatic ductopenia and progressive obliterative cholangiopathy, is a childhood disease of the liver in which one or more bile ducts are abnormally narrow, blocked, or absent. It can be congenital or acquired. As a birth defect in newborn infants, it has an incidence of one in 10,000–15,000 live births in the United States,[1] and a prevalence of one in 16,700 in the British Isles.[2][3] Biliary atresia is most common in East Asia, with a frequency of one in 5,000.
The causes of biliary atresia are not well understood. Congenital biliary atresia has been associated with certain genes, while acquired biliary atresia is thought to be a result of an autoimmune inflammatory response, possibly due to a viral infection of the liver soon after birth.[4] The only effective treatments[citation needed] are surgeries such as the Kasai procedure and liver transplantation.
Contents
- 1 Signs and symptoms
- 2 Pathophysiology
- 3 Diagnosis
- 4 Treatment
- 5 Epidemiology
- 6 References
- 7 External links
Signs and symptoms
A video explanation of biliary atresia
Initially, the symptoms of biliary atresia are indistinguishable from those of neonatal jaundice, a usually harmless condition commonly seen in infants. Distinctive symptoms of biliary atresia are usually evident between one and six weeks after birth. Infants and children with biliary atresia develop progressive cholestasis, a condition in which bile is unable to leave the liver and builds up inside of it. When the liver is unable to excrete bilirubin through the bile ducts in the form of bile, bilirubin begins to accumulate in the blood, causing symptoms. These symptoms include yellowing of the skin, itchiness, poor absorption of nutrients (causing delays in growth), pale stools, dark urine, and a swollen abdomen. Eventually, cirrhosis with portal hypertension will develop. If left untreated, biliary atresia can lead to liver failure. Unlike other forms of liver failure, however, biliary-atresia-related liver failure does not result in kernicterus, a form of brain damage resulting from liver dysfunction. This is because in biliary atresia, the liver, although diseased, is still able to conjugate bilirubin, and conjugated bilirubin is unable to cross the blood–brain barrier.
Pathophysiology
The cause of biliary atresia is unknown. Many possible causes have been proposed, such as reovirus 3 infection,[5] congenital malformation, congenital cytomegalovirus infection,[6] and autoimmunity.[7] However, experimental evidence is insufficient to confirm any of these theories.[8]
There have been extensive studies of the pathogenesis and proper management of progressive cirrhosis.[citation needed] When the biliary tract cannot transport bile to the duodenum, bile is retained in the liver (a condition known as cholestasis), which results in cirrhosis of the liver. Small bile ductules proliferate, and peribiliary fibroblasts are activated. These "reactive" biliary epithelial cells produce and secrete cytokines such as CCL-2 or MCP-1, tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin-6 (IL-6), TGF-beta, endothelin (ET), and nitric oxide (NO). Among these, TGF-beta is the most important pro-fibrogenic cytokine that can be seen in progressive cirrhosis. During the chronic activation of biliary epithelium and progressive cirrhosis, patients eventually show signs and symptoms of portal hypertension, such as esophagogastric varix bleeding, hypersplenism, hepatorenal syndrome, and hepatopulmonary syndrome. The latter two syndromes are essentially caused by systemic mediators that maintain the body in a hyperdynamic state.[citation needed]
There are three main types of extra-hepatic biliary atresia:
- Type I: Atresia is restricted to the common bile duct.
- Type II: Atresia of the common hepatic duct.
- Type III: Atresia of the right and left hepatic duct.
In approximately 10% of cases, anomalies associated with biliary atresia include heart lesions, polysplenia, situs inversus, absent venae cavae, and a preduodenal portal vein.[citation needed]
Genetics
An association between biliary atresia and the ADD3 gene was first detected in Chinese populations through a Genome-wide association study, and was confirmed in Thai Asians and Caucasians. A possible association with deletion of the gene GPC1, which encodes a glypican 1-a heparan sulfate proteoglycan, has been reported.[9] This gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 2 (2q37) and is involved in the regulation of inflammation and the Hedgehog gene.
Toxins
Eating plants that contain a toxin called biliatresone has been implicated in outbreaks of a biliary-atresia-like illness in lambs.[citation needed] Studies are ongoing to determine whether there is a link between human cases of biliary atresia and toxins such as biliatresone. There are some indications that a metabolite of certain human gut bacteria may be similar to biliatresone.[10][11]
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is made by an assessment of symptoms, physical exam, and medical history, in conjunction with blood tests, a liver biopsy, and imaging. Diagnosis is often made following investigation of prolonged jaundice that is resistant to phototherapy and/or exchange transfusions, with abnormalities in liver enzyme tests. Ultrasound or other forms of imaging can confirm the diagnosis. Further testing may include radioactive scans of the liver and a liver biopsy.[citation needed]
Treatment
If the intrahepatic biliary tree is unaffected, surgical reconstruction of the extrahepatic biliary tract is possible through an operation known as the Kasai procedure (after Morio Kasai, the Japanese surgeon who developed the surgery) or hepatoportoenterostomy. This procedure is not usually curative, but may temporarily alleviate symptoms until the child is fully grown and can undergo liver transplantation. Many individuals are known to have undergone the Kasai procedure and lived for more than a few years without requiring additional surgeries.
If the atresia is complete, liver transplantation is the only option. Timely Kasai portoenterostomy (< 60 postnatal days) has shown better outcomes. Nevertheless, a considerable number of patients undergo liver transplantation within a couple years of the Kasai procedure, even if that procedure was successful.
Recent large-scale studies by Davenport et al. (Annals of Surgery, 2008) show that the age of the patient is not an absolute clinical factor affecting prognosis. The influence of age differs according to the disease etiology—i.e., whether biliary atresia is isolated, cystic (CBA), or accompanied by splenic malformation (BASM).
It is widely accepted that corticosteroid treatment after a Kasai operation, with or without choleretics and antibiotics, has a beneficial effect on postoperative bile flow and can clear jaundice, but the dosing and duration of the ideal steroid protocol are controversial. Furthermore, it has been observed in many retrospective longitudinal studies that corticosteroid treatment does not prolong survival of the native liver or transplant-free survival. Davenport et al. also showed (Hepatology 2007) that short-term, low-dose steroid therapy following a Kasai operation had no effect on the mid- or long-term prognosis of biliary atresia patients.
Epidemiology
Biliary atresia seems to affect females slightly more often than males, and Asians and African Americans more often than Caucasians. It is common for only one child in a pair of twins or within the same family to have the condition. There seems to be no link to medications or immunizations given immediately before or during pregnancy.
References
- ^ Suchy, Frederick J. (2015). "Anatomy, Histology, Embryology, Developmental Anomalies, and Pediatric Disorders of the Biliary Tract". In Feldman, Mark; Friedman, Lawrence S.; Brandt, Lawrence J. Sleisenger and Fordtran's Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, Management (10th ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences. pp. 1055–77. ISBN 978-1-4557-4989-8.
- ^ McKiernan, Patrick J; Baker, Alastair J; Kelly, Deirdre A (2000). "The frequency and outcome of biliary atresia in the UK and Ireland". The Lancet 355 (9197): 25–9. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(99)03492-3. PMID 10615887.
- ^ Hartley, Jane L; Davenport, Mark; Kelly, Deirdre A (2009). "Biliary atresia". The Lancet 374 (9702): 1704–13. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60946-6. PMID 19914515.
- ^ Mack, Cara L (2007). "The pathogenesis of biliary atresia: evidence for a virus-induced autoimmune disease". Seminars in Liver Disease 27 (3): 233–42. doi:10.1055/s-2007-985068. PMID 17682970.
- ^ Mahjoub, Fatemeh; Shahsiah, Reza; Ardalan, Farid; Iravanloo, Guiti; Sani, Mehri; Zarei, Abdolmajid; Monajemzadeh, Maryam; Farahmand, Fatemeh; Mamishi, Setareh (2008). "Detection of Epstein Barr Virus by Chromogenic in Situ Hybridization in cases of extra-hepatic biliary atresia". Diagnostic Pathology 3: 19. doi:10.1186/1746-1596-3-19. PMC 2424033. PMID 18442403.
- ^ Amer, O. T.; Abd El-Rahma, H. A.; Sherief, L. M.; Hussein, H. F.; Zeid, A. F.; Abd El-Aziz, A. M. (2004). "Role of some viral infections in neonatal cholestasis". The Egyptian Journal of Immunology 11 (2): 149–55. PMID 16734127.
- ^ Wen, Jie; Xiao, Yongtao; Wang, Jun; Pan, Weihua; Zhou, Ying; Zhang, Xiaoling; Guan, Wenbin; Chen, Yingwei; Zhou, Kejun; Wang, Yang; Shi, Bisheng; Zhou, Xiaohui; Yuan, Zhenghong; Cai, Wei (2014). "Low doses of CMV induce autoimmune-mediated and inflammatory responses in bile duct epithelia of regulatory T cell-depleted neonatal mice". Laboratory Investigation 95 (2): 180–92. doi:10.1038/labinvest.2014.148. PMID 25531565.
- ^ Saito, Takeshi; Shinozaki, Kuniko; Matsunaga, Tadashi; Ogawa, Tomoko; Etoh, Takao; Muramatsu, Toshinori; Kawamura, Kenji; Yoshida, Hideo; Ohnuma, Naomi; Shirasawa, Hiroshi (2004). "Lack of evidence for reovirus infection in tissues from patients with biliary atresia and congenital dilatation of the bile duct". Journal of Hepatology 40 (2): 203–11. doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2003.10.025. PMID 14739089.
- ^ Cui, Shuang; Leyva–Vega, Melissa; Tsai, Ellen A.; Eauclaire, Steven F.; Glessner, Joseph T.; Hakonarson, Hakon; Devoto, Marcella; Haber, Barbara A.; Spinner, Nancy B.; Matthews, Randolph P. (2013). "Evidence from Human and Zebrafish That GPC1 is a Biliary Atresia Susceptibility Gene". Gastroenterology 144 (5): 1107–1115.e3. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2013.01.022. PMC 3736559. PMID 23336978.
- ^ http://www.the-scientist.com//?articles.view/articleNo/43547/title/Silence-of-the-Lambs/
- ^ http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/7/286/286ra67
External links
- Information from the European Biliary Atresia Registry
- Biliary Atresia Research Consortium (U.S.)
- Children's Liver Disease Foundation (U.K.)
- Bhatnagar, V; Kumar, Arun; Gupta, AK (2005). "Choledochal cyst associated with extrahepatic bile duct atresia". Journal of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons 10 (1): 48–9. doi:10.4103/0971-9261.16077.
- How Inflammation Causes Biliary Atresia by Jorge Bezerra, MD at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
- Extrahepatic
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Congenital malformations and deformations of digestive system (Q35–Q45, 749–751)
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| Upper GI tract |
| Tongue, mouth and pharynx |
- Cleft lip and palate
- Van der Woude syndrome
- tongue
- Ankyloglossia
- Macroglossia
- Hypoglossia
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| Esophagus |
- EA/TEF
- Esophageal atresia: types A, B, C, and D
- Tracheoesophageal fistula: types B, C, D and E
- esophageal rings
- Esophageal web (upper)
- Schatzki ring (lower)
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| Stomach |
- Pyloric stenosis
- Hiatus hernia
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|
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| Lower GI tract |
| Intestines |
- Intestinal atresia
- Meckel's diverticulum
- Hirschsprung's disease
- Intestinal malrotation
- Dolichocolon
- Enteric duplication cyst
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| Rectum/anal canal |
- Imperforate anus
- Rectovestibular fistula
- Persistent cloaca
- Rectal atresia
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| Accessory |
| Pancreas |
- Annular pancreas
- Accessory pancreas
- Johanson–Blizzard syndrome
- Pancreas divisum
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| Bile duct |
- Choledochal cysts
- Biliary atresia
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| Liver |
- Alagille syndrome
- Polycystic liver disease
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