Yousef El-Gohary, Christopher R Moir, Abdalla Zarroug
{"title":"Portohepatic fusion mimics biliary aplasia.","authors":"Yousef El-Gohary, Christopher R Moir, Abdalla Zarroug","doi":"10.1136/bcr-2025-266981","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We report a rare case of biliary aplasia in an infant who presented with persistent jaundice and elevated direct bilirubin despite having cholic stools. Imaging confirmed the absence of extrahepatic bile ducts, consistent with biliary atresia. Intraoperatively, there was a complete absence of an extrahepatic biliary tree consistent with biliary hypoplasia. We identified a cryptogenic hepatic plate directly fused to the right portal vein on further dissection. Despite the atypical anatomy, a modified Kasai portoenterostomy was successfully performed. The patient showed progressive clinical improvement with complete resolution of jaundice and normalisation of liver function tests over the following months. This case underscores a rare anatomical variant that can still permit a favourable outcome with a timely Kasai procedure. To our knowledge, this is one of the few documented cases of hepatic plate-portal vein fusion in biliary atresia.</p>","PeriodicalId":9080,"journal":{"name":"BMJ Case Reports","volume":"18 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMJ Case Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2025-266981","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
We report a rare case of biliary aplasia in an infant who presented with persistent jaundice and elevated direct bilirubin despite having cholic stools. Imaging confirmed the absence of extrahepatic bile ducts, consistent with biliary atresia. Intraoperatively, there was a complete absence of an extrahepatic biliary tree consistent with biliary hypoplasia. We identified a cryptogenic hepatic plate directly fused to the right portal vein on further dissection. Despite the atypical anatomy, a modified Kasai portoenterostomy was successfully performed. The patient showed progressive clinical improvement with complete resolution of jaundice and normalisation of liver function tests over the following months. This case underscores a rare anatomical variant that can still permit a favourable outcome with a timely Kasai procedure. To our knowledge, this is one of the few documented cases of hepatic plate-portal vein fusion in biliary atresia.
期刊介绍:
BMJ Case Reports is an important educational resource offering a high volume of cases in all disciplines so that healthcare professionals, researchers and others can easily find clinically important information on common and rare conditions. All articles are peer reviewed and copy edited before publication. BMJ Case Reports is not an edition or supplement of the BMJ.