Sonographic evaluation of neonatal jaundice
Udompanich, O.; Ratanaprakarn, S.; Karanes, S.; Phuapradit, P.; Varavithya, W.
Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand 69(Suppl): 121-123
1986
ISSN/ISBN: 0125-2208 PMID: 3543190 Document Number: 535
Sonographic findings of 50 patients with neonatal jaundice were evaluated. From the operative cholangiogram, 26 cases of biliary atresia (BA) and 24 cases of neonatal hepatitis (NH) were responsible for the causes. Comparison of the size of bile duct and gall bladder of these two groups was done. None of the patients showed dilated bile duct. Inability to demonstrate gall bladder was found in 65.4 per cent of BA and 20.8 per cent of NH. The gall bladder was normal in size (greater than 1.5 cm in length) in 7.7 per cent of BA and 54.2 per cent of NH. It was concluded that sonogram is useful for assessment of the anatomy and the finding of a normal size gall bladder is highly suggestive of NH, non visualized gall bladder suggests BA and a small gall bladder has no predictive value.