Patient's question:
My son is a premature baby, his skin is yellow, and his bilirubin level is high. The doctor suspects it might be biliary atresia.Doctor's answer:
The prognosis for biliary atresia and Kasai surgery is generally unsatisfactory. Most patients ultimately require a liver transplant, but a small portion may experience better outcomes after Kasai surgery and do not need a transplant. The specific situation is complex and cannot be fully explained in a few sentences. It is recommended to do more research online. As for whether your child has biliary atresia, it depends on the clinical symptoms, physical examination, and some tests combined together. Experienced specialists should make the judgment to provide an approximate estimation. Finally, laparoscopic exploration and contrast imaging are required for a definitive diagnosis. Premature infants rarely have biliary atresia.