A child may be born with a liver condition or acquire one through disease or infection. Our staff hepatologist (liver care specialist) evaluates and treats a wide range of pediatric liver diseases, and also provides pre- and post-transplant care.
Some of the pediatric liver conditions we evaluate, manage, and treat include:
- biliary atresia: a blockage in the tube that carries bile from the liver and the gallbladder to the intestine
- jaundice: a yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes caused by the liver’s inability to excrete or to get rid of bilirubin, a byproduct of the normal breakdown of red blood cells
- acute or chronic viral hepatitis: including hepatitis A, hepatitis B,
and hepatitis C - enlarged liver or spleen
- alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency: a genetic disorder that causes liver and lung disease
- liver disease occurring in children with cystic fibrosis
- metabolic liver disease: disease caused by a problem with the body’s enzymes
- Alagille syndrome: a genetic disorder that affects the liver, heart, and other body systems
- Wilson disease: a genetic disorder in which excessive amounts of copper accumulate in the body, affecting many organs such as the liver, the kidneys, and the brain
- acute liver failure in which the liver fails to work and children develop symptoms such as jaundice, confusion, coma, kidney failure, bleeding that show up over a short span of time and may be due to medication overdose, poisoning, infection, or disease
- autoimmune hepatitis: when a child’s immune system mistakenly attacks the liver
- primary sclerosing cholangitis: inflammation of the bile ducts
- NAFLD and NASH: which is non-alcholic fatty liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which is fatty liver with or without inflammation and damage not due to alcoholism respectively which often occurs in children who are overweight or obese
- liver disorders related to gastrointestinal disease
- enzyme deficiency
- liver tumors and cancers: we work in conjunction with the cancer doctors
