Hepatitis C

In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration approved two new medications for the treatment of adults with HCV genotype 1: boceprevir and telaprevir. However, these drugs, which are part of a family of anti-viral medications called protease inhibitors, have not yet been approved for use in children. The Center for Childhood Liver Disease is leading a new clinical trial aimed at determining whether these treatments are safe and effective in children.

Liver biopsies provide a great deal of information about how much hepatitis C and/or other conditions have damaged a child’s liver. But the process of taking a biopsy is invasive, can be painful, and is not without risk. Maureen Jonas, MD, director of the Center for Childhood Liver Disease at Boston Children's Hospital, is investigating an ultrasound-based imaging technology called Fibroscan, which may be able to help doctors assess a child’s liver through a virtual biopsy.