What are the manifestations of patients with biliary atresia?

  Most of the children are born at full term, and their performance is not abnormal for 1 to 2 weeks after birth, but they often develop sclera and skin yellowing after the physiological jaundice subsides. As the jaundice continues to deepen with age, the urine color also deepens, even to a strong tea color. Some children are born with white clay-colored feces, but many children are born with normal feces and stools, and the color of the feces gradually becomes lighter with the deepening of generalized jaundice, and eventually becomes white clay-colored. About 15% of children have white stools only one month after birth. In longer term cases, the stool may change from white to yellowish again. This is due to the high concentration of bilirubin in the blood, and a small amount of bilirubin is discharged into the intestinal cavity through the intestinal glands and mixed with the stool.   As jaundice increases, the liver gradually increases in size and hardens, and the abdomen of the child becomes more pronounced. 3 months of age, the liver may increase in size and flatten the umbilicus, and the spleen may increase in size. In severe cases, there may be manifestations of portal hypertension such as angry abdominal wall veins, ascites, and bleeding from ruptured esophageal varices. The general nutritional status of the child is acceptable during the first 3 months, but as the disease progresses with age, nutritional developmental disorders gradually appear. Biliary cirrhosis develops due to long-term obstruction of the bile ducts, and impaired liver function leads to impaired absorption of fat and fat-soluble vitamins, and if not treated early, most children die of liver failure within one year of age.  Once you find any abnormalities in your child, be sure to seek medical attention and go to a specialized children’s hospital.