A 6-year-old male who lived with a mother in a single-parent family was referred to the emergency room with multiple traumas. There was no specific finding on CT scan of the other hospital performed 55 days before admission. However, CT scan at the time of admission showed common bile duct (CBD) stenosis, proximal biliary dilatation and bile lake formation at the segment II and III. Endoscopic retrograde biliary drainage was performed, but the tube had slipped off spontaneously 36 days later, and follow-up CT scan showed aggravated proximal biliary dilatation above the stricture site. He underwent excision of the CBD including the stricture site, and the bile duct was reconstructed with Roux-en-Y hepaticojejunostomy. Pathologic report of the resected specimen revealed that the evidence of trauma as a cause of bile duct stricture. While non-iatrogenic extrahepatic biliary trauma is uncommon, a level of suspicion is necessary to identify injuries to the extrahepatic bile duct. The role of the physicians who treat the abused children should encompass being suspicious for potential abdominal injury as well as identifying visible injuries.

Choledochal cyst is a congenital dilatation of the bile duct. Intrahepatic bile duct dilatation of type IVa by Todani's classification at the time of diagnosis resolved spontaneously after cyst excision and hepaticojejunostomy in many cases. It should be distinguished from the true cystic dilatation of the intrahepatic ducts, which tends to persist, albeit after some regression. We therefore studied postoperative intrahepatic duct dilatation changes in choledochal cyst. A total of seventy-six choledochal cysts were managed at the Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Samsung Medical Center from May 1995 to December 2005. The ratio of males to females was 1:2.8. Preoperative radiologic diagnosis by Todani's classification was Type I (n=52, 68.4 %), II (n=1, 1.3 %), IVa (n=23, 30.3 %). Among fifty-five patients with intrahepatic bile duct dilatation we were able to follow up forty-eight by ultrasonography. Twenty-two patients were type IVa, and twenty-six patients were type I and showed intrahepatic duct dilatation. Mean follow-up duration was 35.3 months (9~105 months). Complete regression of dilated intrahepatic duct was observed in fifteen patients of type IVa and twenty-four patients of type I. Incomplete regression of dilated intrahepatic duct was observed in six patients in type IVa and two patients in type I. Only one patient in type IVa showed no change in ductal dilatation during a follow-up period of 15 months. We conclude that true type IVa is much less frequent than what was diagnosed preoperatively by imaging study. Therefore in type IVa patients who are diagnosed preoperatively the decision to perform liver resection should be carefully considered. Postoperative long term follow up of choledochal cyst with intrahepatic bile duct dilation is needed.

A 10-year-old boy was admitted with blunt abdominal trauma by bike handle injury. The patient was operated upon for a generalized peritonitis due to pancreaticoduodenal injury. On opening the peritoneal cavity, complete transection of distal end of common bile duct and, partial separation between pancreas head and second portion of duodenum were found. Ligation of the transected end of the common bile duct, T-tube choledochostomy, and external drainage were performed. A pseudocyst was found around the head portion of the pancreas on the 7th postoperative day with CT. An internal fistula had developed between the pseudocyst and ligated common bile duct. The pseudocyst was subsided after percutaneous drainage. In the case of the undetermined pancreatic injury, percutaneous external drainage can be effective in treating the traumatic pancreatic pseudocyst in a pediatric patient.

Spontaneous perforation of the bile duct in children is a very rare disorder. We experienced a 6 year-old girl with spontaneous perforation of the right hepatic duct. The patient was initially misdiagnosed as hepatitis because of elevation of liver enzyme and then as appendicitis because of fluid collection in the pelvic cavity demonstrated by ultrasonogram. A laparoscopic exploration was done and no abnormal findings were detected except bile-stained ascites. Peritoneal drainage was performed and the patients seemed to improve clinically. Abdominal pain, distention and high fever developed after removal of the drains. DISIDA scan showed a possible of bile leak into the peritoneal cavity. ERCP demonstrated free spiil of dye from the right hepatic duct. At laparotomy, the leak was seen in the anterior wall of the right hepatic duct 2cm above the junction of the cystk duct and common hepatic duct. The perforation was linear in shape and 0.8cm in size. The patient underwent cholecystectomy, primary closure of the perforation and T-tube choedochostomy. We could not identify the cause of the perforation; however, the T-tube cholangiography taken on the 42nd postoperative day showed a little more dilatation of the proximal common bile duct compared with the cholangiography taken on the 14th day. Long-term follow-up of the patient will be necessary because of the possibility for further change of the duct.