Biliary atresia associated with hypoplastic left heart syndrome: a case report and review of the literature.

Biliary atresia is a cholestatic disorder of infancy that is associated with other anatomic anomalies in approximately 20% of cases. These frequently are defects in situs determination and laterality, causing syndromes of heterotaxy and complex heart defects. The authors describe an infant with both biliary atresia and hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) in the absence of a laterality defect or evidence of any other morphologic defect. The presence of a hypoplastic left ventricle in a patient with biliary atresia has previously been reported only in the context of a heterotaxy syndrome. The coexistence of these 2 disorders raises etiologic considerations and represents a potential challenge for the surgical treatment of both conditions.