Growth in children with choledochal malformations: effect of the Roux loop.

PURPOSE: Excision and biliary reconstruction using a Roux loop is the current standard for choledochal malformation (CM). This is un-physiological, delivering bile beyond the duodenum and excluding a significant length of the jejunum from intestinal absorption. We investigated whether this had an effect on post-operative growth.

METHODS: Retrospective case-note analysis of children surgically treated for CM. Growth variables were converted to standard deviation scores (SDS) and compared against population norms. P < 0.05 was significant.

RESULTS: From 1994 to 2014, 135 children (<16 years) were identified. Median age at surgery was 3.3 (IQR 1.5-7) years. Morphology included: type 1 Cystic (n = 54, 40%), type 1 Fusiform (n = 58, 43%) and type 4 (intra and extra-hepatic) (n = 22, 16%). There was pre-operative growth failure [median weight SDS = -0.4 (-1.2 - 0.4), P = 0.0004] with a similar trend for height [SDS = -0.38 (-1.2 - 0.5), P = 0.08)]. This correlated with presentation bilirubin (r s = -0.24, P = 0.004), GGT (r s = -0.27, P = 0.002) and AST (r s = -0.27, P = 0.002) but not morphology (P = 0.82) or presentation (P = 0.4). Median follow-up was 1.9 (0.6-4.7) years, during which time both height (P = 0.73) and weight (P = 0.45) reverted to normal.

CONCLUSION: This is the first report of growth in children with CM following a Roux-loop reconstruction and showed pre-operative growth failure probably attributed to a period of biliary obstruction but catch-up growth when corrected.