title: Incidental diagnosis of asymptomatic neonatal cholelithiasis: case report and literature review.
abstract: A case of asymptomatic cholelithiasis detected incidentally at the age of 3 days in an otherwise healthy newborn infant is presented. The hospitalization was uneventful. At follow-up the biliary stones had completely resolved at the age of 3 months with no symptoms. Fourteen similar cases of incidentally diagnosed neonatal cholelithiasis were found in the literature. Clinical course was benign; 12 cases (86%) were asymptomatic and eight (57%) had spontaneous resolution by the age of 6 months. We conclude that incidentally diagnosed neonatal cholelithiasis usually has a benign course with about a 50% chance of spontaneous resolution during the first 6 months of life. In cases of persistent gallstones by age 6 months, no treatment is needed except for long-term follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neonatology, Children's Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tiqva, Israel.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morad
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ziv
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Merlob
mesh_terms: D002769:Cholelithiasis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D014463:Ultrasonography