Abstract

MENDOZA H, Jorge José et al. Report of 21 Cases of Neonatal Cholestasis in a Children’s Hospital in Cartagena, Colombia. Rev Col Gastroenterol [online]. 2015, vol.30, n.1, pp.92-99. ISSN 0120-9957.

Cholestasis is an alteration in the flow of bile resulting from decreases or cessation of biliary excretion. To date, there have been only a few studies on this topic in Colombia. This article presents twenty-one cases of neonatal cholestasis from a Children’s Hospital in Cartagena, Colombia that occurred between 2010 and 2013. The aim of this study is to characterize the etiology and clinical characteristics of the disease. Patients between birth and 3 months old with direct bilirubin levels over 2 mg/dl were selected. By gender, 52.4% of the patients were male, and 47.6% were female. 76.2% of the patients were full term, and 57.1% had no perinatal antecedents. Clinical symptoms presented in the first 30 days after birth in 71% of the patients, and 4 patients were referred for liver transplantation. The most common etiology was infectious (13 patients), and 4 patients had atresia. The most common cause of neonatal cholestasis in this study was infection, but obstructive disorders such as biliary atresia still account for an important proportion of the patients. They require priority study and handling because early intervention results in better prognoses

Keywords : Neonatal cholestasis; bilirubin; biliary atresia; neonatal jaundice; neonatal sepsis.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English | Spanish     · English ( pdf ) | Spanish ( pdf )