Parenteral nutrition with associated cholelithiasis: another iatrogenic disease of infants and children.

During the past decade, 246 infants and children treated at the Columbus Children's Hospital have required more than 4 weeks of parenteral nutrition (PN). Of the 178 survivors, 70 returned for evaluation. Sixty-eight either had adequate visualization of the gallbladder by ultrasound or had previous gallbladder surgery (39%). Of 68 children who did not survive, complete postmortem examinations or ultrasound studies were available for 16 (24%). A diagnosis of cholelithiasis was established in 11 of the 84 studied patients (13%). Six of these children (55%) have required cholecystectomy for relief of chronic abdominal pain, pancreatitis, or empyema of the gallbladder. One additional infant underwent cholecystostomy. Two of the four remaining patients are asymptomatic, one has episodes of abdominal colic, and one child expired of chronic hepatic insufficiency as a result of PN-associated cholestasis. Risk factors that predisposed these children to cholelithiasis included short bowel syndrome, lack of an ileocecal valve, and an increased number of abdominal operative procedures (P less than .05). Patients with biliary calculi also had a longer duration of parenteral feeding, and a higher incidence of both PN-associated cholestasis and necrotizing enterocolitis. The intergroup differences for these characteristics, however, did not achieve statistical significance. On the basis of this information, routine ultrasound examinations of the gallbladder are recommended for children maintained on PN for longer than 30 days. All patients presenting with abdominal pain who previously received PN should also be evaluated. Early elective cholecystectomy is suggested for children who develop PN-associated cholelithiasis.