Liver transplantation

Here at the Liver Transplant Program, our treatment is informed by our research. Boston Children’s Hospital  is home to the world’s most extensive research enterprise at a pediatric hospital.

We also have a great number of partnerships with the top research, biotech and health care organizations in Boston, working together to improve kids’ health.

Maureen M. Jonas, MD, medical director of the Liver Transplant Program, has led research focused on liver disease in children with emphasis on viral hepatitis. Her recent work includes investigations into the treatment of hepatitis B and C viruses in children.

Jonas was the principal investigator in an international pediatric lamivudine trial and the multicenter trial of adefovir dipivoxil, in which the drugs, which are effective in adults with chronic hepatitis B, were tested in children. Jonas's work has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Hepatology, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal and other major medical journals. Active clinical trials at this time include new treatments for hepatitis B and C in children and adolescents.

Other research projects going on in the Center for Childhood Liver Disease include studies of ways to monitor progression of fibrosis (scarring) in the livers of children without doing repeated liver biopsies, studies of fatty liver disease, rapidly becoming the most common liver disease in children, and study of the liver disease in children with cystic fibrosis.

The Boston Children’s Hospital Liver Transplant Program is a member of the national organization called Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation (SPLIT) in which data are gathered from pediatric transplants to teach us more about which children are getting transplants, when and where they are getting them and how they are doing after transplant.

To speak with a member of our Liver Transplant Team, please call:  617-35-LIVER or click here.