We retrospectively reviewed the role of
ursodeoxycholic acid in infants having nonsurgical
cholestasis attending the Hepatology Clinic, New Children Hospital, Cairo University, Egypt, from 1985 until 2005. Files of 496 infants with
neonatal hepatitis and 97 with intrahepatic bile duct paucity were included; of them 241 (48.6%) and 52 (46.4%) received 20-40 mg/kg/day
ursodeoxycholic acid for 319.2 +/- 506.9 days and 480.3 +/- 583.3 days, respectively. The outcome of infants with
neonatal hepatitis with intake of
ursodeoxycholic acid and those without was: 108 (44.8%) and 179 (70.2%) successful (P = 0.000), 11 (4.6%) and 13 (5.1%) improved (P = 0. 474), 112 (46.5%) and 61 (23.9%) suffered failed outcome (P = 0.000), and 10 (4.1%) and 2 (0.78%) died (P = 0.014), respectively. Likelihood of successful outcome with
ursodeoxycholic acid intake was 0.345 (P = 0.000), and that of deterioration was 2.76 (P = 0.000). For those having intrahepatic bile duct paucity likelihood of successful outcome with
ursodeoxycholic acid intake was 0.418 (P = 0.040) and that of deterioration was 2.64 (P = 0.028).
Ursodeoxycholic acid failed in management of this cohort of infants with nonsurgical
cholestasis.