Pediatric Liver Care Center Research Highlights
Current research highlights by the Pediatric Liver Care Center's team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center include:
Clinical Center for Biliary Atresia: Etiopathogenesis and Clinical Outcome
This project is funded by the National Institutes of Health. A Biliary Atresia Center is being developed at Cincinnati Children's to perform translational research focused on diagnosis, pathogenesis, and novel therapeutic modalities for children with biliary atresia.
The Biliary Atresia Center collaborates in a nationwide clinical research consortium sponsored by the National Institutes of Health to establish a database of clinical information and serum and tissue samples from children with biliary atresia to facilitate and perform clinical, epidemiological and therapeutic research in this important pediatric liver disease.
Biliary atresia results from a progressive obliteration of the biliary system. Following obstruction, it leads to cirrhosis in the majority of the patients, and accounts for approximately 50 percent of the indications for liver transplantation in children worldwide.
By developing the Biliary Atresia Center, we aim to systematically search for the cause of biliary atresia and explore novel treatment modalities to block disease progression.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Pediatric Liver Care Center is collaborating in a nationwide clinical research consortium to establish a database of clinical information and serum and tissue samples from children with biliary atresia.
This database will be used to systematically search for the cause of biliary atresia and explore novel treatment modalities to block disease progression. Principal investigator: Jorge Bezerra, MD. Co-investigators: William Balistreri, MD and John Bucuvalas, MD
Studies in Pediatric Liver Transplantation
The primary objectives of Studies in Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT) were to initially develop and now maintain a national database for pediatric liver transplantation to characterize and follow trends in patient and graft survival, rejection incidence, growth parameters, and immunosuppressive therapy and to identify potential risk factors for patient and graft mortality and morbidity among children undergoing liver transplantation. Primary investigator: John Bucuvalas, MD
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is the only pediatric medical center to have been selected to premiere our outcomes for quality of care, improving safety outcomes and promoting cost savings.
A subproject is to ensure the best possible outcomes and avoid harm from medication by optimizing the medical use cycle for transplant recipients. Co-investigator: John Bucuvalas, MD
