Intestine and Multivisceral Transplant Program

Children’s Hospital Boston’s Intestine and Multivisceral Transplant Program evaluates and cares for infants, children and adolescents who require isolated intestine transplantation, combined liver-intestine transplantation and multivisceral transplantation. Since the program’s inception in 2004, the team has performed 17 transplants.

Key program highlights:

• Closely integrated with Boston Children’s Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation, which provides innovative medical, nutritional and surgical options for children with intestinal failure. childrenshospital.org/cair
• Developed serial transverse enteroplasty (STEP) for short bowel syndrome (SBS) in 2002. The STEP procedure lengthens the bowel of children with SBS through transverse stapling, and allows some to wean completely from parenteral nutrition and avoid the need for intestinal transplantation.
• Performed a multivisceral transplant on a seven-pound baby, making her the world’s smallest patient to have this procedure
• More than 150 patients at Boston Children’s have received Omegaven, a fat intravenous mixture derived from fish oil, to prevent and treat liver injury resulting from long-term parenteral nutrition. A formal clinical trial is now underway.

Our focus is on caring for children with intestinal failure. In association with Children's Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation (CAIR), we provide innovative medical and surgical options for children with intestinal failure.

Heung Bae Kim, MD, surgical director of the Pediatric Transplant Center, and Tom Jaksic, MD, PhD, surgical director of CAIR, developed the serial transverse enteroplasty, or STEP, procedure for short bowel syndrome (SBS) in 2002. The STEP procedure, which lengthens the bowel of children with SBS, may allow some children to wean completely from parenteral nutrition and avoid the need for intestinal transplantation.

The Transplant Experience Journal is a collection of stories, pictures, and personal experiences from families about what it has been like to have a liver, kidney, heart, or lung transplant.