Biliary atresia

Abstract

The first clear documented case of biliary atresia in English was reported in 1891 by the Edinburgh physician John Thompson. The child was jaundiced and was noted to have clay-coloured stool and dark urine throughout and ultimately died from liver failure or sepsis at a few months of age. The post-mortem drawings showed a normally formed but empty gallbladder two small bile filled cysts in the porta hepatis and an absence of the common hepatic duct.