Weekly Wellness - Biliarty Atresia

One in every ten thousand babies are affected with biliary atresia, which according to the American Liver Foundation is “a disease of the bile ducts that affects only infants. Bile is a digestive liquid that is made in the liver. It travels through the bile ducts to the small intestine, where it helps digest fats. In biliary atresia, the bile ducts become inflamed and blocked soon after birth. This causes bile to remain in the liver, where it starts to destroy liver cells rapidly and cause cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver.”

The cause of this disease is still unknown and until researches can determine the cause, they cannot find a cure. The Children’s Hospital notes that there is a surgical procedure that can be done as a course of treatment called the Kasai procedure where “blocked bile ducts outside the liver are replaced with a length of the baby’s own intestine, which acts as a new duct.” If the Kasai surgery is not successful, the only other option is liver transplantation.

To learn more about patients who have been affected by biliary atresia, visit Zander's, Gavin's or Matt's story. This children are facing a very serious disease and it is for people like them that we are raising funds every day.