Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Medicine - Department of Pediatrics

Back ground: Malnutrition is a very common problem in infants with biliary atresia. Proper nutritional assessment and management will affect the outcome of the disease pre and post liver transplantation. Vitamin D deficiency is common in biliary atresia, being one of the fat soluble vitamins. Proper supplementation and use of medium chain triglycerides will affect vitamin D serum level. Objectives: Identify the prevalence and severity of nutritional deficiency in patients with biliary atresia. Comparing Serum level of 25(OH) vitamin D in patients with biliary atresia after Kasai porto-enterostomy, after nutritional intervention. Assessment of the effectiveness of nutritional counseling on the outcome of Kasai operation. Methods: This study was carried out at the Pediatric Hepatology Unit, Cairo University Specialized Pediatric Hospital. The study included 36 infants with biliary atresia who underwent Kasai porto-enterostomy. Nutritional counseling using illustrative flyers and Proper physical examination was done including anthropometric measures.Results:50% of cases has clinical signs of vitamin D deficiency, while 77.8% of cases had low serum level of vitamin D. Conclusion: proper nutritional counseling can help to improve serum level of 25(OH) vitamin D using MCTs containing formula and dose 4000 IU cholecalcifirol

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