Clinical aspects of neonatal hepatitis.

Abstract

Over a period of nine years, 316 newborn infants with prolonged nonhemolytic jaundice have been observed (Table 1). Fifty-four percent of them were classified as having hepatitis; 29% were diagnosed as having anatomical malformations of the extrahepatic biliary ducts; in the remaining 17% the jaundice was ascribed to a variety of causes (Table 2). Most (90%) of the 169 infants with viral hepatitis could be classified (Table 3) as having either benign hepatitis (94 patients) or cholestatic hepatitis (59 patients). Among the 92 infants with malformations of the bile-duct system (Table 4), the most frequent lesion was an atresia of the extrahepatic biliary ducts (66 patients). There were 151 infants who exhibited a prolonged obstructive type of jaundice (Table 5). In this group the etiology was almost evenly divided between cholestatic hepatitis (18%) and extrahepatic duct atresia (21%). Thus, the efforts of recent years have been oriented toward