A pediatric case of Burkitt's lymphoma with bile duct obstruction requiring surgical biliary reconstruction

Background: Biliary obstruction due to compression by a B-cell solid tumor occurs rarely. A few reports have described biliary reconstruction surgery for obstructive jaundice caused by Burkitt's lymphoma. However, there are no detailed reports on pediatric cases. We report a pediatric case of obstructive jaundice due to malignant lymphoma treated with biliary reconstruction surgery.

Case presentation: A 5-year-old girl presented to our hospital with a massive abdominal tumor that caused biliary stricture. Chemotherapy was initiated after an open tumor biopsy. However, endoscopic biliary stent placement was performed owing to elevated bilirubin levels. We treated the patient with chemotherapy for 9 months while endoscopically replacing the biliary stent every few months. She achieved complete tumor remission. However, sclerotic lymph nodes were persistent on the dorsal side of the cholecystic duct junction, and biliary stricture at the same site had changed to stent-dependent biliary obstruction. Therefore, we performed choledochojejunostomy and retrocolic Roux-en-Y reconstruction 15 months after initial admission. There were no postoperative complications or tumor recurrences, and the bilirubin level remained low. Histopathologically, the resected bile duct wall was fibrotic and thick, and the bile duct lumen narrowed.

Conclusions: Biliary reconstruction is effective to achieve long-term biliary patency in pediatric patients with stent-dependent biliary obstruction due to malignant lymphoma. However, the decision on when to stop biliary stent replacement and proceed to biliary reconstruction surgery is a matter of debate. Further case studies are required to address this issue.