Infant cholelithiasis: report of a case.

Cholelithiasis is an extremely unusual finding in infancy. The following article describes the case of a 2-month-old male with a VACTER association who presented with persistent and progressive obstructive jaundice and acholic stool due to cholelithiasis. Thirty cases under the age of 1, including our case, have previously been reported in the Japanese literature. Twenty-eight cases had predisposing factors. The calculi were present only in the gallbladder in 18 cases, in the common bile duct or cystic duct or both in 7 cases, and in the gallbladder and common bile duct in 3 cases. Ten cases of stones were radiopaque, which thus made the plain abdominal roentgenogram findings very valuable. Nine cases underwent operation including cholecystectomy in 3 cases, choledocholithotomy in 3 cases, and cholecystolithotomy in 1 case, while the procedure was unknown in 2 cases. Recently, the number of reported cases of cholelithiasis in infants has gradually increased and today these cases are most often diagnosed by ultrasonography, because the examination is easy to perform and not invasive.