Characterization of patients with caroli’s disease: Systematic review

Caroli’s disease (CD) is a rare congenital disease, which presents with multifocal segmental intrahepatic bile duct dilatation. It was first described by Jacques Caroli in 1958 as a saccular or fusiform dilatation of the intra-hepatic bile ducts. Objective: To characterize the population that has been diagnosed with Caroli’s disease. Materials and methods: Systematic review. Results: 66 articles were analyzed. The age group most affec-ted was children under 10 years old, where a higher prevalence was evidenced in males. This condition was associated with other comorbidities such as polycystic kidney in 20%. The most frequent manifestation was hepatomegaly (44.7%), followed by fever (42.4%), and abdominal pain in the right upper quadrant (41.2%). The most used diagnostic method was magnetic resonance imaging in 73.8% of the sample. The findings showed predominance of intra-hepatic dilatation in 76.5%. The most widely used treatment was antibiotic therapy to treat recurrences due to cholangitis. Conclusion: Caroli’s disease has an extremely low incidence and occurs more frequently in the American continent, affecting mainly patients in the first decade of life, with a predilection for the male sex. It is characterized by a dilatation of the intrahepatic ducts that can affect other organs such as the kidneys, causing renal cysts.