Essential fatty acid deficiency in congenital biliary atresia: successful treatment to reverse deficiency

J Pediatr Surg. 1986 Mar;21(3):277-81. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3468(86)80854-5.

Abstract

Supplementation of lipid intake by infusion of solutions of essential fatty acid (EFA)-rich powder through Suruga II enterostomy was carried out for the treatment of EFA deficiency in nine children with postoperative congenital biliary atresia (CBA). Infusion of EFA-rich powder dissolved in excreted bile was effective in six patients except for a case who had a total bile acid concentration in the excreted bile that was less than critical micellar level. Administration of EFA-rich powder dissolved in a mixture of the patient's own bile and 1 to 2 mmol/L taurocholate (TC) solution corrected EFA deficiency in three children with total bile acid concentration lower than the critical level. Our results therefore show that infusion of EEA-rich lipid through Suruga II enterostomy after dissolving in the excreted bile is an effective treatment for EFA deficiency in postoperative patients with CBA, and that 1 to 2 mmol/L TC solution used as artificial bile facilitates lipid absorption in cases with total bile acid in the bile less than the critical micellar level.

MeSH terms

  • Bile Acids and Salts / metabolism
  • Bile Ducts / abnormalities*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Enteral Nutrition
  • Fatty Acids, Essential / administration & dosage
  • Fatty Acids, Essential / deficiency*
  • Female
  • Food, Fortified
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Malabsorption Syndromes / therapy*
  • Male
  • Postoperative Complications / therapy*

Substances

  • Bile Acids and Salts
  • Fatty Acids, Essential