A rare congenital disorder characterised by multifocal, segmental dilatation of the large intrahepatic bile ducts. It may present at any age and predominantly affects females. Less than 250 cases have been described worldwide. Caroli disease is characterised by bile ductal ectasia without other apparent hepatic abnormalities. It presents with recurrent bacterial cholangitis, biliary stones causing biliary pain or episodes of pancreatitis. The more common variant of this disease, named Caroli syndrome, is characterised by dilatations of the large bile duct associated with congenital hepatic fibrosis. The aetiology of Caroli disease is unknown and its occurrence is sporadic, whereas Caroli syndrome is generally inherited in an autosomal recessive manner. [from
SNOMEDCT_US]