Diagnóstico precoce da atresia biliar: revisão integrativa.

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Biliary atresia is a progressive inflammatory condition of the intra and extrahepatic bile ducts that over time generates a fibro­sclerotic process of the biliary tree causing accumulation of bile. When not diagnosed and treated in due time, a great portion of the patients progress to hepatic cirrhosis and end­stage hepatic disease, leading to death in the very first years of life. OBJECTIVE: identify ways to perform the early diagnosis of biliary atresia that presents good applicability in clinical practice enabling early treatment of this disease. METHODS: It was adopted the method of integrative literature review, searching on the databases PubMed and LILACS data with the utilization of descriptors in English “biliary atresia”, “jaundice” and “early diagnosis”, during the period between 2004 and 2014. After application of a research protocol developed by the authors and based on the six stages of the integrative review, it was reached the final result of four articles. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Through analysis of the evidence, it was identified that, unanimously, all authors have emphasized the importance of early diagnosis of biliary atresia. The results of the studies also pointed towards methods of practical screening, effective and inexpensive, such as the use of the infant stool color card and the dosage of bile acids in dried blood spots. The education of primary care physicians and the population was also identified as ways to promote a more rapid diagnosis. However, it is required studies with larger sample size and greater impact to effect the applicability of the methods on an international scale. CONCLUSION: methods of screening for disease are of great importance for an early diagnosis to achieve good survival results. Physicians and the population should be aware of the importance of recognizing early disease. It is necessary a greater number of studies with larger sample size and greater impact to effect the applicability of the methods on an international scale.