[Intrahepatic organic cystals in artificial feeding of children (author's transl)]

Crystals have been observed in the liver of 4 children, submitted to a parenteral nutrition and or, continuous enteral nutrition. Those crystals appear to be birefringent with polarized light extra and intracellular in electron microscopy, they contain a large amount of calcium, phosphore and sulfur. They are thought to represent organic crystals precipitating within the bile ductules of the portal areas. The occurence of those organic crystals seems to be related to a lack of bile secretion due to the exclusion of kinetic and secretory activity of the stomach and the duodenum.