Why do children have common bile duct dilatation

Children are prone to various diseases because of their poor immune system, and common bile duct dilatation is one of them. Therefore, if your child develops jaundice and abdominal masses for no reason, it is recommended that you take your baby for a check-up to see if common bile duct dilatation has occurred. But many parents don’t understand why their children suffer from common bile duct dilatation when they are fine?

Bile duct dilatation is common in women, with abdominal pain, jaundice, vomiting, fever, and abdominal mass as the main clinical manifestations. The rate of canceration of expansion is 2.5% to 26%, which increases with age. The possible causes of its occurrence are: ① If the dilatation is not removed, pancreatic juice will continue to reflux into the cyst, causing bile duct inflammation, ulceration, epithelial metaplasia, and even cancer. ② Due to intracystic bile stasis and bacterial infection, the local secondary bile acid concentration is high, which can also lead to bile duct epithelial metaplasia and carcinoma.

There are 3 possible causes of common bile duct dilatation:

① Congenital weakness of the common bile duct wall, including hypoplastic diverticula, congenital hypotonia, and uneven hyperplasia of the bile duct epithelium during development.

② Distal common bile duct obstruction, including congenital stenosis of the common bile duct, persistent obstruction of the bile duct epithelium, and neuromuscular incoordination in the sphincter area.

③ Abnormal pancreaticobiliary duct junction, pancreatic juice refluxes into the common bile duct, pancreatic enzymes are activated by bile, causing common bile duct inflammation and increased pressure, which in turn causes common bile duct dilatation.

It is worth noting that this disease has a higher rate of bile duct cancer. After developing bile duct cancer, more than half of the patients present with intermittent abdominal pain and fever as the main complaints. This frequency is slightly higher than that of this disease without cancer. About 30% develop jaundice and palpable abdominal masses. Back pain and weight loss indicate progression. Since there are no specific symptoms after canceration, it is easy to be confused with the primary disease. Therefore, once ultrasound, CT, ERCP, etc. detect a mass shadow in the dilated bile duct, a high degree of suspicion should be exercised.

Now that we know why children suffer from common bile duct dilatation, for the sake of their health and our complete family, if they have been diagnosed with the disease, please be sure to take your children for treatment, because the disease can easily develop into a malignant tumor, and once it develops into a malignant tumor, the chances of a complete cure are very slim.