The Kasai operation (hepatic portoenterostomy) for biliary atresia--experience with 20 cases.

Twenty infants have undergone hepatic portoenterostomy at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Sigificant bile flow was obtained in six babies. No correlation was found between the size of the ducts in excised portal tissue and postoperative bile flow. Ascending cholangitis has not been a major problem. Progressive cirrhosis leading to portal hypertension is the main late problem in those patients who have had bile flow successfully reestablished.