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Scientific paper| Volume 128, ISSUE 2, P255-261, August 1974

Postoperative jaundice

An approach to a diagnostic dilemma
  • Author Footnotes
    1 From the Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
    Leon Morgenstern
    Correspondence
    Reprint requests should be addressed to Dr Leon Morgenstern, 4833 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90029.
    Footnotes
    1 From the Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
    Affiliations
    Los Angeles, California USA
    Search for articles by this author
  • Author Footnotes
    1 From the Department of Surgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9610(74)90101-9
Postoperative jaundice
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      Abstract

      Surgical intervention is rarely indicated early in the course of postoperative jaundice. Mild to moderate hyperbilirubinemia is a frequent postoperative phenomenon which merits more observation than action. More severe jaundice may herald a catastrophic outcome due to factors outside the liver but reflected in progressive hepatocellular failure and often renal failure. Shock, sepsis, multiple transfusions, halogenated hydrocarbon anesthetics, and pre-existent liver disease are the factors most frequently associated with this condition. After three or four weeks more aggressive diagnostic measures are indicated, ranging from endoscopy with retrograde choledochopancreatography and transjugular hepatic biopsy and cholangiography to the measure of last resort, laparotomy.
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      Article info

      Footnotes

      Presented at the Forty-Fifth Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Surgical Association, Kaanapali, Maui, Hawaii, February 17–21, 1974.

      Identification

      DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/0002-9610(74)90101-9

      Copyright

      © 1974 Published by Elsevier Inc.

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