Studies on the Postoperative Changes in the Liver Tissue of Long-term Survivors after Successful Surgery for Biliary Atresia1

Abstract Forty-eight cases of congenital biliary atresia were surgically treated. Of these, eight cases are living in good health and four died more than 2 years after the operation. The liver tissue was examined in these twelve cases. Even in cases which had taken a good course of healing after the operation, the recovery of the liver tissue was not homogenously induced in the whole liver. Histological changes of the liver after the operation were different, depending on the time of the operation, an excellent or poor flow of bile, and the presence or absence of complication with postoperative cholangitis. The liver tissue was so improved as to be close to a normal structure in some parts of the liver, but was involved in biliary cirrhosis in others. These changes of varying intensity were found mixed in the same liver. In discussing the recovery of the liver after the operation, therefore, it is necessary to make a collective judgement on findings obtained by liver biopsy and the results of some other examinations.