Spontaneous resolution of extrahepatic biliary obstruction in a neonate

A patient with spontaneous resolution of complete extrahepatic biliary obstruction shortly after the neonatal period is described. Liver biopsy prior to resolution revealed widened portal tracts and extensive fibrosis; these changes normalized following resolution. The aetiology was not established but possibilities included a choledochal cyst, localized inflammation; for example, pancreatitis, a calculus of the common bile duct or a congenital membrane. Management of this patient would have been advanced if there were a paediatric size side-viewing duodenoscope which would have diagnostic and therapeutic potentials.