Cholelithiasis with Mucosal Dysplasia of the Gallbladder in a 2-year-old Child

Traditionally, it has been emphasized that hemolytic disease was the primary cause of gallstones (cholelithiasis) in most young patients. In recent years, gallstones and common bile duct calculi have been increasingly diagnosed in infants and children, unrelated to hemolytic diseases. On the matter, the World Health Organization (WHO) classified intraepithelial neoplasia (dysplasia) of gall bladder as one of the precursor lesions of invasive cancer. The following article describes the case of a 2-year-old girl who had a laparoscopic cholecystectomy due to cholelithiasis and the pathologic diagnosis was chronic cholecystitis with diffuse, mild mucosal dysplasia. (J Korean Surg Soc 2010;79:S58-61)