The Korean Association of Pediatric Surgeons (KAPS) performed the second nationwide survey on biliary atresia in 2011. It was a follow-up study to the first survey, which was performed in 2001 for the retrospective analysis of biliary atresia between 1980 and 2000. In the second survey, the authors reviewed and analyzed the clinical data of patients who were treated for biliary atresia by the members of KAPS from 2001 to 2010. A total of 459 patients were registered. Among them, 435 patients primarily underwent the Kasai operation. The mean age of patients who underwent the Kasai operation was 66.2±28.7 days, and 89.7% of those patients had type III biliary atresia. Only five patients (1.4%) had complications related to the Kasai operation. After the Kasai operation, 269 (61.8%) of the patients were re-admitted because of cholangitis (79.9%) and varices (20.4%). One hundred and fifty-nine (36.6%) of the patients who underwent the Kasai operation subsequently underwent liver transplantation. The most common cause of subsequent liver transplantation was persistent hyperbilirubinemia. The mean interval between the Kasai operation and liver transplantation was 1.1±1.3 years. Overall the 10-year survival rate after the Kasai operation was 92.9% and the 10-year native liver survival rate was 59.8%. We had 23 patients for primary liver transplantation without the Kasai operation. The mean age patients who underwent primary liver transplantation was 8.6±2.9 months. In summary, among the 458 Kasai-operation and liver-transplantation patients, 373 lived, 31 died, and 54 were unavailable for follow up. One-third of the patient who survived have had complications correlated with biliary atresia. In comparison with the first survey, this study showed a higher survival rate and a greater number of liver transplantation.

Pediatric liver transplantation has evolved into a definite and effective therapeutic modality for various liver diseases in the pediatric patient. During the last 25 years, liver transplant outcomes in Korea have reached international standards and Korea has become the leader in living-donor liver transplantation. This review will present the cumulative outcomes of pediatric liver transplantation performed in Korea and will focus on other issues of interest involving pediatric liver transplant recipients, especially in the field of immunosuppression and post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the early experience of the laparoscopic adhesiolysis for the intestinal obstruction due to postoperative adhesion. Seven patients were included in this study. The median age of those patients was 13, and there were 3 males and 4 females. Previous diagnosis and surgical procedure were various in seven cases, including small bowel resection with tapering enteroplasty, Boix-Ochoa fundopl ication, Ladd's procedure with appendectomy, mesenteric tumor resection with small bowel anastomosis, ileocecal resection and anastomosis, primary gastric repair, and both high ligation. A successful laparoscopic adhesiolysis was performed in one who had high ligation for inguinal hernia and had a single band adhesion. Six out of 7 (86%) cases needed to convert open surgery due to multiple and dense type of adhesion. In conclusion, laparoscopic approach with postoperative small bowel adhesion seems safe. However, it might be prudently considered because of high rates of conversion in children.