Conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia in Nigerian infants

A prospective study of 101 Nigerian infants with conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia seen over 6 years shows that extrahepatic biliary tract obstruction, idiopathic hepatitis, and bacterial infections were the common causes. A firm diagnosis was based on clinical, biochemical and histological features when the patient presented early. However, most of the infants presented late and the superimposed features of prolonged cholestasis made differentiation of the probable causes difficult. Erythrocyte peroxide haemolysis test and laparatomy aided diagnosis in these cases. Seventy five per cent of the patients with sepsis treated with antibiotics, and 70% of those with hepatitis treated symptomatically, recovered. Surgery was successful in only 15% of the patients with biliary tract obstruction. These were those who had either diverticulum of the common bile duct, localized atresia or stenosis or in whom biliary obstruction was due to viscid bile.